Fusion 7 Tool Reference PDF

Fusion Tool Reference
In addition to the Fusion User Manual

this document covers the functionality of the individual Fusion tools.
You can click on the icons as well as on the buttons on the upper right
to comfortably navigate through the document.
Please consider the environment before printing this document.

In fact its not meant to be printed at all. Thank you.
1988-2011 eyeon software - www.eyeonline.com Version 1.5 last updated 17.10.14 1

Fusion Tool Reference
Table of Contents
3D Tools 4 Set Canvas Color 128 Custom 253
Bender 3D 5 White Balance 129 Fields 261
Camera 3D 6 Composite Tools 131 Run Command 263
Cube 3D 13 Dissolve 132 Set Domain 265
Custom Vertex 3D 15 Merge 134 Time Speed 267
Displace 3D 16 Creator Tools 140 Time Stretcher 268
Duplicate 3D 17 Background 141 Paint Tool 270
FBX Exporter 3D 19 Day Sky 143 Paint 271
FBX Mesh 3D 20 Fast Noise 145 Particle Tools 275
Alembic Mesh 3D 22 Mandelbrot 147 pAvoid 276
Fog 3D 24 Plasma 149 pBounce 277
Image Plane 3D 25 Text Plus 151 pChangeStyle 278
Locator 3D 27 DeepPixel Tools 160 pCustom 279
Merge 3D 28 Depth Blur 161 pDirectionalForce 280
Override 3D 29 Fog 162 pEmitter 281
Point Cloud 3D 30 Shader 163 pFlock 284
Projector 3D 32 SSAO 165 pFriction 285
Renderer 3D 36 Texture 167 pGradientForce 286
Replace Material 3D 43 Effect Tools 168 pImageEmitter 287
Replace Normals 3D 44 Highlight 169 pKill 288
Replicate 3D 45 Hot Spot 171 pMerge 289
Ribbon 3D 49 Pseudo Color 175 pPointForce 290
Shape 3D 50 Shadow 176 pRender 291
SoftClip 53 Smee Hee 177 pSpawn 296
Text 3D 54 Trails 178 pStyles 297
Transform 3D 56 TV 180 pTangentForce 301
Triangulate 3D 58 Film Tools 182 pTurbulence 302
UV Map 3D 59 Cineon Log 183 pVortex 303
Weld 3D 61 Film Grain 185 Particle 304
3D Light Tools 62 Grain 187 Common Controls 304
Ambient Light 63 Light Trim 189 Position Tools 308
Directional Light 64 Remove Noise 190 Volume Fog 309
Point Light 65 Flow Tools 191 Volume Mask 314
Spot Light 66 Sticky Note 192 Z to World 316
3D Material Tools 68 Underlay 193 WPP Concept 317
Blinn 69 FlowOrg Tools 194 Primatte 5 319
Channel Boolean Material 71 Groups 195 Stereo Tools 331
Cook Torrance 72 Macro 196 Anaglyph 332
Mtl Merge 3D 74 Pipe Router 197 Combiner 335
Phong 75 Fuses 198 Splitter 336
Reflect 77 Fuses 199 Tracker Tools 337
Stereo Mix 78 200 Tracker 338
Ward 79 I/O Tools 200 Transform Tools 345
3D Texture Tools 81 Loader 201 Camera Shake 346
BumpMap 82 Saver 208 Crop 348
Catcher 83 LUT Tools 212 DVE 349
CubeMap 84 File LUT 213 Letterbox 350
Falloff 85 LUT Cube Analyzer 214 Resize 352
Fast Noise Texture 86 LUT Cube Apply 215 Scale 354
Gradient 3D 87 LUT Cube Creator 216 Transform 356
Sphere Map 88 Mask Tools 217 Warp Tools 359
Texture 89 Common Mask Co-ordinate Space 360
Texture Transform 90 Controls 218 Corner Positioner 361
Blur Tools 91 Bitmap Mask 221 Dent 362
Blur 92 B-Spline Mask 223 Displace 363
Defocus 94 Ellipse Mask 225 Drip 364
Directional Blur 95 Mask Paint 226 Grid Warp 365
Glow 96 Polygon Mask 227 Lens Distort 369
Sharpen 98 Ranges Mask 228 Perspective Positioner 370
Soft Glow 99 Rectangle Mask 229 Vector Distortion 371
VariBlur 101 Triangle Mask 230 Vortex 372
Unsharp Mask 102 Wand Mask 231 Modifiers 373
Vector Motion Blur 103 Matte Tools 232 Bezier Spline 374
Color Tools 104 Alpha Divide 233 B-Spline 375
Auto Gain 105 Alpha Multiply 234 Calculation 376
Brightness Contrast 106 Chroma Keyer 235 Character Level Styling 377
Channel Boolean 107 Difference Keyer 238 Circle 378
Color Corrector 109 Luma Keyer 239 CloneMultistroke 379
Color Curves 115 Matte Control 240 Comp Name 382
Color Gain 116 Ultra Keyer 243 Coordinate Transform 3D 383
Color Matrix 119 Metadata Tools 246 Copy Ellipse 384
Color Space 122 Copy Metadata 247 Copy Polyline 385
Color Gamut 123 Set Metadata 248 Copy Rectangle 386
Hue Curves 124 Set Timecode 249 Cubic Spline 387
OCIO CDLTransform 125 Misc Tools 250 Expression 388
OCIO ColorSpace 126 Auto Domain 251 Fill 392
OCIO FileTransform 127 Change Depth 252 Follower 393
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From Image 394
GradientColorModifier 395
MIDI Extractor 396
Multistroke 398
Natural Cubic Spline 401
Offset 402
Paint Group 404
Path 405
Perturb 406
Polyline Stroke 407
Probe 410
Publish 412
Shake 413
Stroke 414
Text Scramble 417
Text Timer 418
TimeCode 419
Track 420
Vector 421
XY Path 422

3D Tools
Bender 3D Camera 3D Cube 3D Displace 3D Duplicate 3D
FBX Exporter 3D FBX Mesh 3D Fog 3D Image Plane 3D Locator 3D
Merge 3D Override 3D Point Cloud 3D Projector 3D Renderer 3D
Replace Material 3D Replicate 3D Shape 3D SoftClip Text 3D
Transform 3D UV Map 3D

3D Tools
[3Bn] 3D Tools
Bender 3D
Description:
The Bender 3D tool is used to bend, taper, twist or shear the geometry in a 3D scene based upon its bounding box. It takes a 3D scene as input and outputs a modified 3D scene. Only the
geometry in the scene is modified. Any lights, cameras or materials are passed through unaffected.
The Bender tool does not produce new vertices in the geometry - only existing vertices in the geometry are altered. As a result, when applying the Bender 3D tool to primitives created in
Fusion, it is a good idea to increase the value of the Subdivision controls in the original primitives to give a higher quality result.
External Inputs:
The following inputs appear on the tools tile in the Flow Editor.
Bender3D.SceneInput
[ gold, required ] This input expects a 3D scene.
Controls Tab
Bender Type
Use the Bender Type to select the type of deformation to apply to the geometry. There are four modes availa-
ble - Bend, Taper, Twist and Shear.
Amount
Adjust the Amount slider to change the strength of the deformation.
Axis
The Axis control determines the axis along which the deformation is applied and has a different meaning de-
pending on the type of deformation. When bending, this determines the axis that is bent, in conjunction with
the Angle control. In other cases, the deform is applied around the specified axis.
Angle
The Angle screw control determines what direction about the axis that a bend or shear is applied. It is not
visible for taper or twist deformations.
Range
The Range control can be used to limit the effect of a deformation to a small portion of the geometry. The
Range control is not visible for when the Bender Type is set to Shear.
Group Objects
When this is checked, all the objects in the input scene are grouped together into a single object and that
object is deformed around the common center, instead of deforming each component object individually.
Unbendable Girder
This control reminds us that the robots could take over at any time. Be on your guard.
1988-2014 eyeon software - www.eyeonline.com [3Bn] 5

3D Tools
[3Cm] 3D Tools
Camera 3D
Description:
The Camera 3D tool generates a virtual camera though which the 3D environment can be viewed. It closely emulates the settings used in both real and virtual cameras in an effort to make mat-
ching the cameras used in other scene elements as seamless as possible.
The camera should be added to the scene using a Merge 3D tool. Displaying a camera tool directly in the display views shows only an empty scene - there is nothing for the camera to see. To view
the scene through the camera, view the scene from the Merge 3D tool that introduces the camera, or any tool downstream of that Merge 3D. Then right click in the view and select Camera ->
Cameraname from the context menu. Right clicking on the axis label found in the bottom corner will display the Camera sub-menu directly.
The aspect of the display view may be different from the aspect of the camera, so that the view through the camera interactively may not match the true boundaries of the image which will actually
be rendered by the Renderer 3D tool. To assist the artist in framing the shot, guides can be enabled that represent the portion of the view the camera actually sees. Right click in the view and
select an option from the Guides -> Frame Format sub-menu. The default option will use the format enabled in the Composition -> Frame Format preferences. To toggle the guides on or off select
Guides -> Show Guides from the displays context menu, or use the Ctrl + G keyboard shortcut when the view is active.
The Camera 3D tool can also be used to perform Camera Projection, where a 2D image is projected through the camera into 3D space. This can be done as a simple Image Plane aligned with the
camera, or as an actual projection, similar to the behavior of the Projector 3D tool, with the added advantage of being aligned exactly with the camera. The Image Plane, Projection and Materials
tabs will not appear until a 2D image is connected to the Camera 3D tool in the Flow Editor.
The Camera Tool has built in stereoscopic features. They offer control over eye separation and convergence distance. The camera for the right eye can be replaced using a separate camera tool
connected to the green input. Additionally the plane of focus control for depth of field rendering is also available here.
If you add a camera by means of dragging the 3Cm icon from the toolbar onto the 3D view, it will automatically merge it with the scene you are viewing. In addition, it will be automatically set to
the current viewpoint, and the view will be set to look through the new camera. Alternatively, it is possible to copy the current viewpoint to a camera (or Spotlight or any other object) by means of
the Copy PoV To option in the view's context menu, under the Camera submenu.
External Inputs:
The following inputs appear on the tools tile in the Flow Editor.
Camera3D.SceneInput
[ gold, required ] This input expects a 3D scene.
Camera3D.RightStereoCamera
[ green, optional ] This input should be connected to another Camera 3D tool. It is used to override the internal camera used for the right eye in stereoscopic renders and displays.
Camera3D.ImageInput
[ magenta, optional ] This input expects a 2D image. The image is used as a texture when camera projection is enabled, as well as when the camera's Image Plane controls are used to produce
parented planar geometry linked to the cameras field of view.
Controls
The options in this tab are used to set the camera's clipping, field of view, focal length and stereoscopic properties.
Projection Type
Use the Projection Type button to choose between Perspective and Orthographic cameras. Generally, real world came-
ras are perspective cameras. An orthographic camera uses parallel orthographic projection, a technique where the view
plane is perpendicular to the viewing direction. This produces a parallel camera output that is undistorted by perspecti-
ve.
Orthographic cameras only present controls for the near and far clipping planes, and a control to set the viewing volu-
me.
Near / Far Clip

The clipping plane is used to limit what geometry in a scene is rendered based on the objects distance from the
camera's focal point. This is useful for ensuring that objects which are extremely close to the camera are not rendered,
and for optimizing a render to exclude objects which are too far away to be useful in the final rendering.
The default perspective camera ignores this setting unless the the Adaptively Adjust Near/Far Clip checkbox control
below is disabled.
The values are expressed in units, so a far clipping plane of 20 means that any object more than 20 units distant from
the camera will be invisible to the camera. A near clipping plane of 0.1 means that any object closer than 0.1 units will
also be invisible.
Note that a smaller range between the near and far clipping planes allows greater accuracy in all depth calculations. If a
scene begins to render strange artifacts on distant objects, try increasing the distance for the Near Clip plane.
Adaptively Adjust Near/Far Clip

When selected the renderer will automatically adjust the camera's near / far clipping plane to match the extents of the
scene. This setting overrides the values of the Near and Far clip range control described above. This option is not availa-
ble for Orthographic cameras.
Viewing Volume Size

The Viewing Volume Size control only appears when the Projection Type is set to Orthographic. It determines the size
of the box that makes up the camera's field of view.
The Z distance of an orthographic camera from the objects it sees does not affect the scale of those objects, only the
viewing size does.
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3D Tools
[3Cm] 3D Tools
Camera 3D
Controls (continued)
Angle Of View Type
Use the Angle of View Type button array to choose how the camera's angle of view is measured. Some applications use
vertical measurements, some use horizontal and others use diagonal measurements. Changing the Angle of View type
will cause the Angle of View control below to recalculate.
Angle Of View
Angle Of View defines the area of the scene that can be viewed through the camera. Generally, the human eye can see
much more of a scene than a camera, and various lenses record different degrees of the total image. A large value pro-
duces a wider angle of view and a smaller value produces a narrower, or more tightly focused, angle of view.
The angle of view and focal length controls are directly related. Smaller focal lengths produce a wider angle of view, so
changing one control automatically changes the other to match.
Focal Length
In the real world, a lens' Focal Length is the distance from the center of the lens to the film plane. The shorter the focal
length, the closer the focal plane is to the back of the lens. The focal length is measured in millimeters. The angle of
view and focal length controls are directly related. Smaller focal lengths produce a wider angle of view, so changing one
control automatically changes the other to match.
The relationship between focal length and angle of view is angle = 2 * arctan[aperture / 2 / focal_length]
Use the vertical aperture size to get the vertical angle of view, and the horizontal aperture size to get the horizontal
angle of view.
Plane of Focus (for depth of field)

This value is used by the OpenGL Renderer to calculate depth of field. It defines the distance to a virtual target in front
of the camera.
Stereo Method
Allows to adjust your stereoscopic method to your preferred working model.
Toe In
Both cameras point at a single focal point. Though the result is stereoscopic, the vertical parallax introduced by this me-
thod can cause discomfort by the audience.

3D Tools
[3Cm] 3D Tools
Camera 3D
Off Axis
Often regarded the correct way to create stereo pairs this is the default method in Fusion.
Off Axis introduces no vertical parallax, thus creating less stressful stereo images.
Parallel
The Cameras are shifted Parallel to each other.

Since this is a purely parallel shift, there is no Convergence Distance control.
Parallel introduces no vertical parallax, thus creating less stressful stereo images.
Eye Separation
Defines the distance between the both stereo cameras. If the Eye Separation is set to a value larger than 0, controls for
each camera will be shown in the display view when this tool is selected.
There is no Convergence Distance Control in Parallel mode.
Convergence Distance
This control sets the stereoscopic convergence distance, defined as a point located along the z-axis of the camera
which determines where both left and right eye cameras converge.

3D Tools
[3Cm] 3D Tools
Camera 3D
Film Back
Film Gate
The Film Gate menu shows a list of preset camera types. Selecting one of the options will automatically set the aperture
width and aperture height to match the selected camera type.
Aperture Width/Height
The Aperture Width and Height sliders control the dimensions of the camera's aperture, or the portion of the camera
that lets light in on a real world camera. In video and film cameras, the aperture is the mask opening that defines the
area of each frame exposed. Aperture is generally measured in inches, which are the units used for this control.
Resolution Gate Fit

Determines how the film gate is fit within the resolution gate. This only has an effect when the aspect of the film gate is
not the same aspect as the output image. This setting corresponds to the Maya Fit Resolution Gate. The modes Over-
scan, Horizontal, Vertical and Fill correspond to Inside, Width, Height and Outside.
Inside
The image source will be scaled uniformly until one of it's dimensions (X or Y) fits the inside dimensions of the Mask.
Depending on the relative dimensions of image source and Mask Background either the image source's width or height
may be cropped to fit the respective dimension of the Mask.
Width
The image source will be scaled uniformly until it's width (X) fits the width of the Mask. Depending on the relative di-
mensions of image source and Mask the image source's Y-dimension might not fit the Mask's Y-dimension, resulting in
either cropping of the image source in Y or the image source not covering the Mask's height entirely.
Height
The image source will be scaled uniformly until it's height (Y) fits the height of the Mask. Depending on the relative
dimensions of image source and Mask the image source's X-dimension might not fit the Mask's X-dimension, resulting
in either cropping of the image source in X or the image source not covering the Mask's width entirely.

3D Tools
[3Cm] 3D Tools
Camera 3D
Outside
The image source will be scaled uniformly until one of it's dimensions (X or Y) fits the outside dimensions of the Mask.
Depending on the relative dimensions of image source and Mask either the image source's width or height may be
cropped or not fit the respective dimension of the Mask.
Stretch
The image source will be stretched in X and Y to accomodate the full dimensions of the generated Mask. This might
lead to visible distortions of the image source.
Control Visibility
Allows to selectively activate the on screen controls that are displayed along with the camera.
Frustrum
Displays the actual viewing cone of the camera.
View Vector
Displays a white line inside the viewing cone which can be used to determine the shift when in parallel mode.
Near Clip
The Near clipping plane. This plane can be subdivided for better visibility.
Far Clip
The Far clipping plane. This plane can be subdivided for better visibility.
Plane of Focus
The Plane of Focus according to the respective slider explained above. This plane can be subdivided for better visibility.
Convergence Distance
The point of convergence when using stereo mode. This plane can be subdivided for better visibility.
Import Camera
The Import Camera button displays a dialog to import a camera from another application. It supports the following file
types:
*LightWave Scene - .lws

*Max Scene - .ase
*Maya Ascii Scene - .ma
*dotXSI - .xsi

3D Tools
[3Cm] 3D Tools
Camera 3D
Image
When a 2D image is connected to the Camera, an Image Plane is created that is always oriented so that the image fills
the camera's field of view. The Image Plane Tab is hidden until a 2D image is connected to the camera 3D's input on the
flow.
With the exception of the controls listed below the options presented in this tab are identical to those presented in the
Image Plane tools control tab. Consult that tools documentation for a detailed description.
Enable Image Plane

Use this checkbox to enable or disable the creation of the Image Plane.
Fill Method
Describes how to deal with the input image, if the camera has a different aspect ratio.
Inside
The image source will be scaled uniformly until one of it's dimensions (X or Y) fits the inside dimensions of the Mask.
Depending on the relative dimensions of image source and Mask Background either the image source's width or height
may be cropped to fit the respective dimension of the Mask.
Width
The image source will be scaled uniformly until it's width (X) fits the width of the Mask. Depending on the relative di-
mensions of image source and Mask the image source's Y-dimension might not fit the Mask's Y-dimension, resulting in
either cropping of the image source in Y or the image source not covering the Mask's height entirely.
Height
The image source will be scaled uniformly until it's height (Y) fits the height of the Mask. Depending on the relative
dimensions of image source and Mask the image source's X-dimension might not fit the Mask's X-dimension, resulting
in either cropping of the image source in X or the image source not covering the Mask's width entirely.
Outside
The image source will be scaled uniformly until one of it's dimensions (X or Y) fits the outside dimensions of the Mask.
Depending on the relative dimensions of image source and Mask either the image source's width or height may be
cropped or not fit the respective dimension of the Mask.
Depth
The Depth slider controls the image plane's distance from the camera.
Projection
If a 2D image is connected to the camera it becomes possible to project the image into the scene. A projection is diffe-
rent from an Image Plane in that the projection will fall onto the geometry in the scene exactly as if there was a physical
projector present in the scene. The image is projected as light, which means the renderer must be set to Enable lighting
for the projection to be visible.
See the Projector 3D tool for additional information.
Enable Camera Projection

Select this checkbox to enable projection of the 2D image connected to the camera tool.
Projection Fit Method

This button array can be used to select the method used to match the aspect of projected image to the cameras Field
of View.
Projection Mode
Light
Defines the projection as a spotlight.
Ambient Light
Defines the projection as an ambient light.
Texture
Allows a projection which can be relighted using other lights. Needs a Catcher Tool connected to the appropriate input
ports of the specific material.

3D Tools
[3Cm] 3D Tools
Camera 3D
Tips for Camera 3D

When importing a camera from a 3D application that will also be used as a projector, make sure that the Fit Resolution
Gate options on the main Controls tab as well as the Projection tab are in sync. Only the first one will automatically be
set to what the 3D app was using. The latter might have to be adjusted manually.
The cameras image plane isnt just a virtual guide for you in the viewers. Its actual geometry that you can also project
onto. You need to use a Replace Material tool after your camera node. See Erics example comp over at PigsFly or this
YouTube video.
In Fusion 6.1* parallel stereo mode assume Off-axis in clever stereoscopic terms.
So, to achieve real parallel stereo mode you can:
* connect additional external(right) camera to Right Stereo Camera input of your camera.
* create separate left and right cameras
* as workaround you can pull faar-faar away ConvergenceDistance value,
something like ConvergenceDistance = 9999999999.
Try to avoid animate camera AngleOfView parameter. Good idea animate FocalLenght instead AoV, becouse in practice
i get unstable behaviour of Fusion, when i use expressions, that operate with camera focalLenght on camera that has
AoV animation . Actually may be more general advice is connect your expressions to actual input, that have animation.
Rendering with overscan from Fusions 3D space
If you want to render an image with overscan you also have to modify your scenes Camera3D. Since overscan settings
arent exported along with camera data from 3D applications, this is also necessary for cameras youve imported via
.fbx or .ma files. The solution is to increase the film backs width and height by the factor necessary to account for extra
pixels on each side. This annotated comp explains the process.

3D Tools
[3Cb] 3D Tools
Cube 3D
Description:
The Cube 3D tool is a basic primitive geometry type capable of generating a simple cube. The tool also provides six additional image inputs that can be used to map a texture onto the six
faces of the cube.
Cubes are often used as shadow casting objects and for environment maps. For other basic primitives, see the Shape 3D tool.
External Inputs:
Cube3D.SceneInput
[ orange, optional ] This input expects a scene from a 3D tool output.
Cube3D.NameMaterialInput
These 6 inputs are used to define the materials applied to the six faces of the cube. They will accept either a 2D image or a 3D material as valid.
Controls
Lock Width/Height/Depth
This checkbox locks the Width, Height and Depth dimensions of the cube together, so that they are always the
same size. When selected, only a Size control is displayed, otherwise separate Width, Height and Depth sliders
are shown.
Size or Width/Height/Depth
If the Lock checkbox is selected then only the Size is shown, otherwise separate sliders are displayed for
Width, Height and Depth. The Size and Width sliders are the same control renamed, so any animation applied
to Size will also be applied to Width when the controls are unlocked.
Subdivision Level
Use the Subdivision Level slider to set the number of subdivisions used when creating the image plane.
If the Open GL display and renderer are set to vertex lighting so, the more subdivisions in the mesh, the more
vertices will be available to represent the lighting. For this reason, high subdivisions can be useful when wor-
king interactively with lights.
Cube Mapping
Enabling the Cube Mapping checkbox causes the cube to wrap its first texture across all six faces using a stan-
dard cubic mapping technique. This approach expects a texture laid out in the shape of a cross.
Wireframe
Enabling this checkbox will cause the mesh to render only the Wireframe for the object. When this manual
was printed, only the OpenGL renderer supported wireframe, but that may have changed in the time between
printing and release.
Visibility
Visible
If the visibility checkbox is not selected, the object will not visible in the display views, nor will it be rendered
into the output image by the Renderer 3D tool. A non-visible object does not cast shadows.
Unseen by Cameras
If the Unseen by Cameras checkbox is selected, the object will be visible in the display views (unless the Visi-
ble checkbox is turned off), except when viewed through a camera. The object will not be rendered into the
output image by the Renderer 3D tool. Shadows cast by an Unseen object will still be visible when rendered
by the software renderer, though not by the OpenGL renderer.
Cull Front Face/Back Face

Use these options to cull (eliminate) rendering and display of certain polygons in the geometry. If Cull Back
Face is selected, all polygons facing away from the camera not be rendered, and will not cast shadows. If Cull
Front Face is selected, all polygons facing towards the camera will likewise be dropped. Selecting both check-
boxes has the same effect as deselecting the Visible checkbox.
Ignore Transparent Pixels in Aux Channels

In Fusion 5 transparent pixels were rejected by the SW/GL renderers. To be more specific the SW renderer re-
jected pixels with R=G=B=A=0 and the GL renderer rejected pixels with A=0. This is now optional. The reason
you might want to do this is to get aux channels (eg. normals, z, UVs) for the transparent bits. For example,
suppose in post you want to replace the texture on an 3D element with a texture that is transparent in certain
areas with a texture that is transparent in different areas, then it would be useful to have transparent bits set
aux channels (in particular UVs). As another example suppose you are doing post DoF... you will probably not
want the z channel to be set on transparent areas as this will give you a false depth. Also keep in mind that
this rejection is based on the final pixel color including lighting if it is on. So if you have a specular highlight
on a clear glass material, this checkbox will not affect it.
1988-2014 eyeon software - www.eyeonline.com [3Cb] 13

3D Tools
[3Cb] 3D Tools
Cube 3D
Lighting
Affected By Lights
If this checkbox is not selected, lights in the scene will not affect the object, it will not receive nor cast sha-
dows, and it will be shown at the full brightness of its colour, texture or material.
Shadow Caster
If this checkbox is not enabled, the object will not cast shadows on other objects in the scene.
Shadow Receiver
If this checkbox is not enabled, the object will not receive shadows cast by other objects in the scene.
Matte
Enabling the IsMatte option will apply a special texture to this object, causing this object to not only become
invisible to the camera, but also making everything that appears directly behind the camera invisible as well.
This option will override all textures. See the Matte Objects section of the 3D chapter for more information.
Is Matte
When activated, objects whose pixels fall behind the matte objects pixels in Z do not get rendered.
Opaque Alpha
Sets the alpha value of the matte object to 1. This checkbox is only visible when the IsMatte option is enabled.
Infinite Z
Sets the value in the z channel to infinite. This checkbox is only visible when the IsMatte option is enabled.
Blend Mode
A blend mode specifies which method will be used by the renderer when combining this object with the rest
of the scene. The blend modes are essentially identical to those listed in the documentation for the 2D Merge
tool. For a detailed explanation of each mode see the documentation for that tool.
The blending modes were originally designed for use with 2D images. Using them in a lit 3D environment can
produce undesirable results. For best results use the apply modes in unlit 3D scenes rendered in software.
OpenGL Blend Mode

Use this menu to select the blending mode which will be used when the geometry is processed by the
OpenGL renderer. This is also the mode used when viewing the object in the display views. Currently the
OpenGL renderer only support three blending modes.
Software Blend Mode

Use this menu to select the blending mode which will be used when the geometry is processed by the Soft-
ware renderer. Currently the Software renderer supports all of the modes described in the Merge tool docu-
mentation except for the Dissolve mode.
Material Tab
The options which appear in this tab determine the appearance the geometry created by this tool. Since these
controls are identical on all tools that generate geometry, these controls are fully described in the Common
3D Controls section of this documentation.
If an external 3D material is connected to the tool tiles material input then the controls in this tab will be
replaced with the Using external material label.
Transform Tab
The options which appear in this tab determine the position of the geometry created by this tool. Since these
1988-2014 eyeon software - www.eyeonline.com Cube 3D 14

3D Tools
[3CV] 3D Tools
Custom Vertex 3D
Description:
This is a custom tool for 3D geometry that can be used to do per vertex manipulations, for example on an imageplane like: (px, py, sin(10*(px^2 + py^2 ) + n1)).
Other vertex attributes like normals, vertex color, texture coordinates, tangents, and velocity can be modified as well.
Note that modifying the (x,y,z) positions of a 3D object does not modify the normals/tangents. You can use a ReplaceNormals tool afterwards to recompute the normals/tangents.
Note that not all geometry has all vertex attributes. For example, most Fusion geometry does not have vertex colors, with the exception of particles and some imported FBX/Alembic meshes.
No geometry has envcoord currently. Only particles have velocities. If a stream is not present on the input geometry it assumed to have a default value.
These default values are:

tangentU (tux, tuy, tuz) = (1,0,0)
tangentV (tvx, tvy, tvz) = (0,1,0)
normals (nx, ny, nz) = (0,0,1)
vertexColor (vcr, vcg, vcb, vca) = (1,1,1,1)
velocity (vx, vy, vz) = (0,0,0)
envcoord (eu, ev, ew) = (0,0,0)
texcoord (tu, tv, tw) = (0,0,0)
Note that missing streams on the input geometry are created if the expression for a stream is non-trivial.
The values for the streams will be as given in the above point. eg. if the input geometry does not have normals, then the values of (nx, ny, nz) will always be (0,0,1).
To change this, you could use a ReplaceNormals tool beforehand to generate them.
Controls
1988-2014 eyeon software - www.eyeonline.com [3CV] 15

3D Tools
[3Di] 3D Tools
Displace 3D
Description:
The Displace 3D tool is used to displace the vertices of an object along their normals based upon a reference image. The texture coordinates on the geometry are used to determine where to
sample the image.
When using Displace 3D, keep in mind that it will only displace existing vertices and will not tessellate objects. To obtain a more detailed displacement, increase the Subdivision amount for the
geometry that is being displaced. Note that the pixels in the displacement image may contain negative values.
Passing a particle system through a Displace 3D tool will disable the 'always face camera' option set in the pEmitter. Particles are not treated as point-like objects, each of the four particle
vertices are individually displaced, which may or may not be the preferred outcome.
External Inputs:
Displace3D.SceneInput
[ orange, required ] This input expects to receive a 3D scene.
Displace3D.Input
[ green, optional] This input expects a 2D image to be used as the displacement map. If no image is provided this tool will effectively pass the scene straight
through to it's output.
Controls Note
Channel Since Fusion 6.1, there is the RGB
Determines which channel of the image connected to Displace3D.Input is used to displace the geometry. displacement mode that allows the
red green and blue channels of a
Scale and Bias 2D image (a so-called world positi-
Use these sliders to scale (magnify) and bias (offset) the displacement. The bias is applied first and the scale on pass) to be used as the X, Y and
afterwards. Z displacement vectors. Make sure,
the plane or object you are displa-
cing is sub-divided sufficiently.
Camera Displacement
Point to Camera
When the Point to Camera checkbox is enabled, each vertex is displaced towards the camera rather than
along its normal. One possible use of this option is for displacing a camera's image plane. The displaced
camera image plane would appear unchanged when viewed through the camera, but is deformed in 3D space
allowing one to comp in other 3D layers that correctly interact in Z.
Camera
This drop down box is used to select which camera present in the scene will be used to determine the camera
displacement when the Point to Camera option is selected.
1988-2014 eyeon software - www.eyeonline.com [3Di] 16

3D Tools
[3Dp] 3D Tools
Duplicate 3D
Description:
The Duplicate 3D tool can be used to quickly duplicate any geometry in a scene, applying a successive transformation to each, and creating repeating patterns and complex arrays of objects.
The options in the Jitter tab allows for non-uniform transformations, such as random positioning or sizes.
External Inputs:
Duplicate3D.SceneInput
[ orange, required ] This input expects a 3D scene.
Controls
First/Last Copy
Use this range control to set how many copies of the geometry to make. Each copy is a copy of the last copy so, if this
control is set to [0,3], the parent is copied, then the copy is copied, then the copy of the copy is copied, and so on. This
allows for some interesting affects when transformations are applied to each copy using the controls below.
Using a value for both the First Copy and the Last Copy will show only the original input. Setting the First Copy to a
value greater than 0 will exclude the original input and show only the copies.
Time Offset
Use the Time Offset slider to offset any animations that are applied to the source geometry by a set amount per copy.
For example, set the value to -1.0 and use a cube set to rotate on the Y axis as the source. The first copy will show the
animation from a frame earlier. The second copy will show animation from a frame before that, and so forth. This can
be used with great effect on textured planes, for example, where successive frames of a clip can be shown.
Transform Method
Accumulated
When set to Accumulated each object copy starts at the position of the previous object, and is transformed from there.
The result is transformed again for the next copy.
Linear
When set to Linear transforms are multiplied by the number of the copy, and the total scale, rotation and translation
are applied in turn, independent of the other copies.
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3D Tools
[3Dp] 3D Tools
Duplicate 3D
Transform Order
With these buttons the order in which the transforms are calculated can be set. It defaults to Scale-Rotation-Transform
(SRT).
Using different orders will result in different positions of your final objects.
XYZ Offset
These three sliders tell the tool how much offset to apply to each copy. So an X Offset of 1 would offset each copy 1
unit 1 unit along the X axis from the last copy.
Rotation Order
These buttons can be used to set the order in which rotations are applied to the geometry. Setting the rotation order to
XYZ would apply the rotation on the X axis first, followed by the Y axis rotation, then the Z axis rotation.
XYZ Rotation
These three rotation sliders tell the tool how much rotation to apply to each copy.
XYZ Pivot
The Pivot controls determine the position of the pivot point used when rotating each copies.
Lock XYZ
When the Lock XYZ checkbox is selected any adjustment to the duplicate scale will be applied to all three axis simulta-
neously. If this checkbox is disabled the Scale slider will be replaced with individual sliders for the X, Y and Z scale.
Scale
The Scale controls tells duplicate how much scaling to apply to each copy.
Jitter
Random Seed / Randomize
The Random Seed is used to 'seed' the amount of jitter applied to the duplicated objects. Two Duplicate tools with
identical settings but different random seeds will produce two completely different results. Click on the randomize
button to assign a random seed value.
Time Offset
Translation XYZ Jitter

Use these three controls to adjust the amount of variation in the translation of the duplicated objects.
Rotation XYZ Jitter

Use these three controls to adjust the amount of variation in the rotation of the duplicated objects.
Pivot XYZ Jitter

Use these three controls to adjust the amount of variation in the rotational pivot center of the duplicated objects. This
affects only the additional jitter rotation, not the rotation produced by the Rotation settings in the Controls tab.
Scale XYZ Jitter

Use this control to adjust the amount of variation in the scale of the duplicated objects. Uncheck the Lock XYZ check-
box to adjust the scale variation independently on all three axis.
1988-2014 eyeon software - www.eyeonline.com Duplicate 3D 18

3D Tools
[FBX] 3D Tools
FBX Exporter 3D
Description:
The FBX Exporter provides a method of exporting a Fusion 3D scene to the FBX scene interchange format. Each node in Fusion is a single object in the exported file. Objects, Lights and Came-
ras will use the name of the node that created them. The tool can be set to export a single file for the entire scene, or to output one frame per file.
In addition to the FBX format this tool can also export to the 3D Studio's .3ds,, Collada's .dae, Autocad's .dxf and the Alias .obj formats.
External Inputs:
FBXExporter.Input
Controls
Filename
This file browser control can be used to set the file which will be output by the tool. Click on the yellow folder
icon to open a file browser dialog.
Format
This control is used to set the format of the output file. It is possible to export the following file formats:
*FBX ascii (*.fbx)

*FBX 5.0 binary (*.fbx)
*Autocad DXF (*.dxf)
*3D Studio 3DS (*.3ds)
*Alias OBJ (*.obj)
*Collada DAE (*.dae)
Not all of the formats support all of the features of this tool. For example, the OBJ format does not handle
animation.
Version
The version drop down menu shows the available versions for the Format selected by the control above. The
menu's contents will change synamically to reflect the available versions for that format. If the selected format
only provides a single option this menu will be hidden.
Choosing Default for the FBX formats uses FBX200611.
Geometry / Lights / Cameras

These three checkbox controls determine wether the tool will attempt to export the named scene element.
For example deselecting geometry and lights but leaving cameras selected would output only the cameras
currently in the scene.
Reduce Constant Keys

Enabling this option will automatically remove keyframes if the adjacent keyframes have the same value.
File Per Frame (no animation)

Enabling this option will force the tool to export one file per frame resulting in a sequence of numbered files.
This will disable the export of animation.
Set Sequence Start

Normally, Fusion will use the render range of a composition to determine the numeric sequence used when
rendering a file sequence to disk. Enable this checkbox to reveal the Sequence Start Frame control to set the
number of the first frame in the sequence to a custom value.
Sequence Start Frame

This thumbwheel control can be used to set an explicit start frame for the number sequence applied to the
rendered filenames. For example, if Global Start is set to 1 and frames 1 - 30 are rendered, files will normally
be numbered 0001 - 0030. If the Sequence Start Frame is set to 100, the rendered output would be numbered
from 100-131.
1988-2014 eyeon software - www.eyeonline.com [FBX] 19

3D Tools
[FBX] 3D Tools
FBX Mesh 3D
Description:
The FBXMesh3D tool is used to import polygonal geometry from scene files that are saved using the FilmBox (FBX) format. It is also able to import geometry
from OBJ, 3DS, DAE and DXF scene files. This provides a method for working with more complex geometry than is available using Fusions built-in primitives.
When importing geometry with this tool all of the geometry contained in the FBX file will be combined into one mesh with a single pivot and transformation.
The FBXMesh tool will ignore any animation applied to the geometry.
The File -> Import -> FBX utility can be used to import an FBX and create individual tools for each camera, light and mesh contained in the file. This utility can
also be used to preserve the animation of the objects.
If the Global -> General -> Auto clip browse option is enabled (default) then adding this tool to a composition from the toolbars or menus will automatically
display a file browser.
External Inputs:
FBXMesh3D.SceneInput
[ orange, required ] This input expects a 3d scene as it's input
FBXMesh.MaterialInput
[ green, optional ] This input will accept either a 2D image or a 3D material. If a 2D image is provided it will be used as a diffuse texture map for the basic materi-
al built into the tool. If a 3D material is connected then the basic material will be disabled.
Controls
Size
The Size slider controls the size of the FBX geometry that is imported. FBX meshes have a tendency to be
much larger than Fusion's default unit scale, so this control is useful for scaling the imported geometry to
match the Fusion environment.
FBX File
This control shows the filename of the currently loaded FBX. Click on the icon of the yellow folder to opena
filebrowser that can be used to locate an FBX file. Despite the tools name this tool is also able to load a variety
of other formats.
*FBX ascii (*.fbx)

*FBX 5.0 binary (*.fbx)
*Autocad DXF (*.dxf)
*3D Studio 3DS (*.3ds)
*Alias OBJ (*.obj)
*Collada DAE (*.dae)
Object Name
This input shows the name of the mesh from the FBX file that is being imported. If this field is blank then the
entire contents of the FBX geometry will be imported as a single mesh. This input is not editable by the user it
is set by Fusion when importing FBX files via the File -> Import -> FBX utility.
Take Name
This input shows the name of the animation take to use from the FBX file. If this field is blank then no anima-
tions will be imported. This input is not editable by the user it is set by Fusion when importing FBX files via
the File -> Import -> FBX utility.
Wireframe
Enabling this checkbox will cause the mesh to render only the Wireframe for the object. Currently only the
OpenGL renderer supports wireframe rendering.
Visibility
Visible
Unseen by Cameras

1988-2014 eyeon software - www.eyeonline.com [FBX] 20

3D Tools
[FBX] 3D Tools
FBX Mesh 3D
Visibility (continued)
Lighting
Affected By Lights
Shadow Caster
Shadow Receiver
Matte
Is Matte
Opaque Alpha
Infinite Z
Blend Mode
OpenGL Blend Mode

Software Blend Mode

Material Tab
Transform Tab
1988-2014 eyeon software - www.eyeonline.com FBX Mesh 3D 21

3D Tools
[ABC] 3D Tools
Alembic Mesh 3D
Description:
There are two way to import Alembic files:
Using the File->Import->Alembic menu option or manually adding an AlembicMesh3D tool to the flow.
The first method is strongly recommended.
The Alembic format allows for arbitrary user data to be stored within the file. Fusion ignores most of this meta data for various reasons.
No Conventions have been defined yet for how this metadata is named and metadata might change between different ABC exporters.
When the alembic file is imported through the menu option, the transforms are read into splines and into the inputs on the tools which get saved with the
comp. This means that when re-loading the comp, the transforms are loaded from the comp and not the alembic file. The meshes are handled differently, they
are always reloaded from the alembic file.
Controls
Filename
The Name of the imported Alembic File.
Object Name
This input shows the name of the mesh from the Alembic file that is being imported. If this field is blank then
the entire contents of the FBX geometry will be imported as a single mesh. This input is not editable by the
user it is set by Fusion when importing Alembic files via the File -> Import -> Alembic utility.
Sampling Rate
The framerate is set when importing the file. It can be altered using this slider
to create effects like slowmotion.
Dump File
Opens the resulting ASCII in the preferred text-editor.
Alembic Import Dialog

Writer: the name of the plugin/application that created/wrote out the Alembic file
Writer Version: the version of the alembic SDK that was used to write out the alembic file
RenderRange: this gives you an idea of the duration of the animation in the alembic file in seconds
DetectedSamplingRates: Fusion examines the framerates in the file and reports them here, this is useful to get an idea
what to set the ResamplingRate to
Hierarchy
If disabled, the transforms in the alembic file are flattened down into the cameras and meshes. This results a bunch of
meshes/cameras connected to a single merge node in Fusion. When enabled you get the full parenting hierarchy.
Orphaned Transforms
Transforms that do not parent a mesh or camera will not be imported if this option is unchecked. For example, if you have
a skeleton and associated mesh model, the model will be imported as an Alembic mesh and the skeleton will be imported
as a tree of Merge3Ds. Disabling this option causes the Merge3Ds not to be imported.
Cameras:
Near/Far/Apertures/AoV/PlaneOfFocus are imported. The resolutionGateFit may be imported - it depends if the Writer
correctly tagged the resolutionGateFit metadata - if your camera does not import correctly you should check to see if
Camera3D.ResolutionGateFit is set correctly. Stereo information is not imported.
1988-2014 eyeon software - www.eyeonline.com [ABC] 22

3D Tools
3D Tools
InverseTransform:
Imports the inverse transform (worldToModel) for cameras.
Points:
Alembic supports a points type. This is a collection of 3D points without orientation. Some 3D apps export particles as
points, but keep in mind the direction and orientation of the particles are lost - you just get positions. It very well may be
possible that the exocortex Alembic plugins write out extra user data that contains orientation.
Meshes: Optionally import UVs and Normals
ResamplingRate
When an alembic animation is exported it is stored on disk in seconds not in frames. When the alembic data is brought
into
Fusion you need to supply a framerate with which to resample the animation. Ideally you should chose the same framerate
that it was exported with so your samples match up with the original samples. DetectedSamplingRates can give an idea
what to pick if unsure.
Lights
Import currently not supported. There is no universal convention on Alembic light schemas.
Materials
Import currently not supported. There is no universal convention on Alembic material schemas.
Curves
Import currently not supported.
Multiple UVs
Import currently not supported. There is no universal convention yet.
Velocities
Import currently not supported.
Cyclic/Acyclic sampling
Currently not implemented. Uniform sampling, which is the most common mode, works fine.
We recommend use of FBX for lights/cameras/materials and Alembic for meshes only. If cameras and Alembic work for
you, then go for it. The reason is that our Alembic plugin doesnt support lights/materials, but FBX has good support.
Alembic import of cameras has problems with ResolutionGateFit and doesnt import stereo options.
1988-2014 eyeon software - www.eyeonline.com InverseTransform: 23

3D Tools
[3Fo] 3D Tools
Fog 3D
Description:
The Fog 3D tool applies depth cue based fog to the scene. It is the 3D version of the Fog tool in the Deep Pixel category. It is designed to work completely in 3D space and takes full advan-
tage of antialiasing and depth of field effects during rendering.
The Fog 3D tool essentially re-textures the geometry in the scene by applying a color correction based on the objects distance from the camera. An optional Density Texture image can be
used to apply variation to the correction.
External Inputs:
Fog3D.SceneInput
Fog3D.DensityTexture
[ green, optional ] This input expects a 2D image. The color of the fog created by this tool is multiplied by the pixels in the image. When creating the image for
the Density Texture keep in mind that the texture is effectively projected onto the scene from the camera.
Controls
Enable
Use this checkbox to enable or disable the tool.
Show Fog In View

By default the fog created by this tool is only visible when the scene is viewed using a Camera tool. When this checkbox
is enabled, the fog becomes visible in the scene from all points of view.
Color
This control can be used to set the color of the fog. The color is also multiplied by the DensityTexture image, if one has
been provided.
Radial
By default the fog is done based upon the perpendicular distance to a plane (parallel with the near plane) passing
through the eye point. When the radial option is checked the radial distance to the eye point is used instead of the per-
pendicular distance. The problem with perpendicular distance fog is that when you move the camera about, as objects
on the left or right side of the frustum move into the center they become less fogged even though they remain the
same distance from the eye. Radial fog fixes this. Sometimes radial fog is not desirable. For example if you are fogging
an object that is close to the camera like an image plane the center of the image plane could be unfogged while the
edges could be fully fogged.
Fog type
This control is used to determine the type of falloff applied to the fog.
Linear
Defines a linear falloff for the fog.
Exp
Creates an exponential nonlinear falloff.
Exp2
Creates an stronger exponential falloff.
Near/Far Fog Distance

This control expresses the range of the fog in the scene as units of distance from the camera. The Near distance deter-
mines where the fog starts, while the Far Distance sets the point where the fog has its maximum effect. Fog is cumulati-
ve, so the further an object is from the camera the thicker the fog should appear.
1988-2014 eyeon software - www.eyeonline.com [3Fo] 24

3D Tools
[3Im] 3D Tools
Image Plane 3D
Description:
The Image Plane tool produces 2D planar geometry in 3D space. The most common use of the tool is to represent 2D images in the 3D space. An image input on the tool's tile provides the
texture for the rectangle from another source in the composition. The aspect of the Image Plane is determined by the aspect of the image used for it's diffuse texture. If planar geometry that
whose dimensions are not relative to the texture image is required then use a Shape 3D tool instead.
External Inputs:
ImagePlane3D.SceneInput
[ orange, optional ] This input expects a 3D scene. As this tool creates geometry, it is not required.
ImagePlane3D.MaterialInput
[ green, optional ] This input will accept either a 2D image or a 3D material. If a 2D image is provided it will be used as a diffuse texture map for the basic ma-
terial built into the tool. If a 3D material is connected then the basic material will be disabled.
Controls
Lock Width/Height
When checked the subdivision of the plane will be applied evenly in X and Y.
When unchecked there are two sliders for individual control of the subdivisions in X and Y.
Defaults to on.
Subdivision Level
Use the Subdivision Level slider to set the number of subdivisions used when creating the image plane.
If the Open GL display and renderer are set to vertex lighting so, the more subdivisions in the mesh, the more vertices
will be available to represent the lighting. For this reason, high subdivisions can be useful when working interactively
with lights.
Wireframe
Enabling this checkbox will cause the mesh to render only the Wireframe for the object. When this manual was printed,
only the OpenGL renderer supported wireframe, but that may have changed in the time between printing and release.
Visibility
Visible
If the visibility checkbox is not selected, the object will not visible in the display views, nor will it be rendered into the
output image by the Renderer 3D tool. A non-visible object does not cast shadows.
Unseen by Cameras
If the Unseen by Cameras checkbox is selected, the object will be visible in the display views (unless the Visible check-
box is turned off), except when viewed through a camera. The object will not be rendered into the output image by
the Renderer 3D tool. Shadows cast by an Unseen object will still be visible when rendered by the software renderer,
though not by the OpenGL renderer.

Use these options to cull (eliminate) rendering and display of certain polygons in the geometry. If Cull Back Face is
selected, all polygons facing away from the camera not be rendered, and will not cast shadows. If Cull Front Face is se-
lected, all polygons facing towards the camera will likewise be dropped. Selecting both checkboxes has the same effect
as deselecting the Visible checkbox.

In Fusion 5 transparent pixels were rejected by the SW/GL renderers. To be more specific the SW renderer rejected
pixels with R=G=B=A=0 and the GL renderer rejected pixels with A=0. This is now optional. The reason you might want
to do this is to get aux channels (eg. normals, z, UVs) for the transparent bits. For example, suppose in post you want
to replace the texture on an 3D element with a texture that is transparent in certain areas with a texture that is transpa-
rent in different areas, then it would be useful to have transparent bits set aux channels (in particular UVs). As another
example suppose you are doing post DoF... you will probably not want the z channel to be set on transparent areas as
this will give you a false depth. Also keep in mind that this rejection is based on the final pixel color including lighting if
it is on. So if you have a specular highlight on a clear glass material, this checkbox will not affect it.
1988-2014 eyeon software - www.eyeonline.com [3Im] 25

3D Tools
[3Im] 3D Tools
Image Plane 3D
Lighting
Affected By Lights
Shadow Caster
Shadow Receiver
Matte
Is Matte
Opaque Alpha
Infinite Z
Blend Mode
OpenGL Blend Mode

Software Blend Mode

Material Tab
Transform Tab
1988-2014 eyeon software - www.eyeonline.com Image Plane 3D 26

3D Tools
[3Lo] 3D Tools
Locator 3D
Description:
The Locator 3D tools purpose is to transform a point in 3D space to 2D co-ordinates that other tools can use as part of expressions or modifiers.
When the Locator is provided with a camera and the dimensions of the output image, it will transform the co-ordinates of a 3D control into 2D screen space. The
2D position is exposed as a numeric output which can be connected to from other tools. For example, to connect the center of an ellipse to the 2D position of
the Locator, right click on the mask center control and select Connect To > Locator 3D > Position.
The scene provided to Locators input must contain the camera through which the co-ordinates are projected. As a result, the best practice is to place the locator
after the merge that introduces the camera to the scene.
If an object is connected to the Locator tools second input, the locator will be positioned at the objects center, and the Transformation tabs Offset XYZ sliders
will function in the objects local co-ordinate space rather than Global scene space. This is useful for tracking an objects position regardless of any additional
transformations applied further downstream.
External Inputs:
Locator3D.SceneInput
Locator3D.Target
[ green. optional ] This input expects a 3D scene. When provided, the transform center of the scene is used to set the position of the locator. The transformation
controls for the Locator become offsets from this position.
Controls
Size
The Size slider is used to set the size of the locator's onscreen crosshair.
Color
A basic Color control is used to set the color of the locator's onscreen crosshair.
Matte
Is Matte
Opaque Alpha
Infinite Z
Sub ID
The SubID slider can be used to select an individual sub-element of certain geometry, such as an individual
character produced by a Text 3D tool, or a specific copy created by a Duplicate 3D tool.
Make Renderable
Defines if the Locator is rendered as a visible object by the OpenGL renderer. The software renderer is not
currently capable of rendering lines, and hence will ignore this option.
Unseen By Camera
This checkbox control appears when the Make Renderable option is selected. If the Unseen by Cameras
checkbox is selected, the locator will be visible in the display views, but not rendered into the output image by
the Renderer 3D tool.
Controls
Camera
This drop down control is used to select the camera in the scene that defines the screen space used for 3D to
2D co-ordinate transformation.
Use Frame Format Settings

Select this checkbox to override the Width, Height and Pixel Aspect controls, and force them to use the values
defined in the compositions Frame Format preferences instead.
Width, Height and Pixel Aspect

In order for the locator to generate a correct 2D transformation, it must know the dimensions and aspect of
the image. These controls should be set to the same dimensions as the image produced by a renderer associ-
ated with the camera specified above. Right clicking on these controls will display a context menu containing
the frame formats configured in the compositions preferences.
1988-2014 eyeon software - www.eyeonline.com [3Lo] 27

3D Tools
[3Mg] 3D Tools
Merge 3D
Description:
The Merge 3D tool is used to combine separate 3D elements into the same 3D environment.
For example, with a scene that is created with an image plane, a camera and a light, the camera would not be able to see the image plane and the light would
not affect the image plane until all three objects are introduced into the same environment using the Merge 3D tool.
The tool tile displays only two inputs at first but, as each input is connected, a new input will appear on the tool, assuring there is always one free to add a new
element into the scene.
The merge provides the standard transformation controls found on most tools in Fusions 3D suite. Unlike those tools, changes made to the translation, rotation
or scale of the merge affect all of the objects connected to the merge. This behavior forms the basis for all parenting in Fusions 3D environment.
External Inputs:
Merge3D.SceneInput[#]
[ any, see description ] These inputs expect a 3D scene. When the tool is constructed it will display two inputs. There is no limit to the number of inputs this tool
can accept. The tool dynamically adds more inputs as needed, ensuring that there is always at least one input available for connection.
Controls
Pass Through Lights
When the Pass Through Lights checkbox is selected, lights will be passed through the merge into its output
so that they can affect downstream elements. Normally, the lights are not passed downstream to affect the
rest of the scene. This is frequently used to ensure projections are not applied to geometry introduced later in
the scene.
Transform Tab
1988-2014 eyeon software - www.eyeonline.com [3Mg] 28

3D Tools
[3Ov] 3D Tools
Override 3D
Description:
The Override tool let you change object specific options for every object in a 3D scene simultaneously. This is useful, for example, when the artist wishes to set every object in the input scene
to render as a wireframe. Additionally this tool is the only way to set the wireframe, visibility, lighting, matte and ID options for 3D particle systems and the Text 3D tool.
It is frequently used in conjunction with the Replace Material tool to produce isolated passes. For example, a scene be branched out to a Override tool which turns off the affected by lights
property of each tool, then connected to a Replace Material tool that applies a Falloff shader to produce an falloff pass of the scene.
External Inputs:
Override3D.SceneInput
[ orange, required ]: This input expects a 3D scene.
Controls
The philosophy of the controls found in the override tool is fairly straightforward. First, the artist selects the
option to override using the 'Do [Option]' checkbox. That will reveal a control that can be used to set the
value of the option itself. The individual options are not documented here - a full description of each can be
found in any geometry creation tool, such as the Image Plane, Cube or Shape tools.
Do [option]
Enables the Override for this option.
[option]
If the Do [option] checkbox is enabled then the control for the property itself becomes visible. The control
values of the properties for all upstream objects are overridden by the new value.
1988-2014 eyeon software - www.eyeonline.com [3Ov] 29

3D Tools
[3PC] 3D Tools
Point Cloud 3D
Description:
A Point Cloud is generally a large number of nulls created by 3D tracking or modeling software. When produced by 3D tracking software the points typically represent each of the patterns tra-
cked to create the 3D camera path. These point clouds can be used to identify a ground plane and to orient other 3D elements with the tracked image. The Point Cloud 3D tool creates a point
cloud by importing a 3D scene and collecting all of the null type objects found within into a single peice of geometry. Using a single mesh object preserves resources and ensures speedy
interactive performance.
External Inputs:
PointCloud3D.SceneInput
Controls
Lock X/Y/Z
Deselect this checkbox to provide individual control over the size of the X, Y and Z arms of the points in the
cloud.
Size X/Y/Z
These sliders can be used to increase the size of the onscreen crosshairs used to represent each point.
Density
This slider defines the probability of displaying a specific point. If the value is 1 then all points are displayed. A
value of 0.2 shows only every fifth point.
Color
Use the standard Color control to set the color of onscreen crosshair controls.
Import PointCloud
The Import Point Cloud button displays a dialog to import a point cloud from another application. Supported
filetypes are :
* Alias's Maya .ma
* 3DS Max ASCII Scene Export .ase
* NewTek's LightWave .lws
* Softimage XSI's .xsi.
Make Renderable
Determines if the point cloud is visible in the OpenGL viewport, and in final renderings made by the OpenGL
renderer. The software renderer does not currently support rendering of visible crosshairs for this tool.
Unseen By Camera
This checkbox control appears when the Make Renderable option is selected. If the Unseen by Cameras
checkbox is selected, the point cloud will be visible in the display views, but not rendered into the output
image by the Renderer 3D tool.
Onscreen Context Menu

Frequently one or more of the points in an imported point cloud will have been manually assigned in order to
track the position of a specific feature. These points usually have names that distinguish them from the rest of
the points in the cloud. To see the current name for a point, hover the mouse pointer directly over a point and
after a moment a small popup will appear with the name of the point.
When the Point Cloud 3D tool is selected a sub-menu will be added to the display view's context menu with
several options that make it simple to locate, rename and separate these points from the rest of the point
cloud. The context menu contains the following options:
Find
Selecting this option from the display view context menu will open a dialog that can be used to search for and
select a point by name. Each point that matches the pattern will be selected.
Rename
Rename one or more points by selecting Rename from the context menu. Type the new name into the dialog
that appears and hit enter. The point will now have that name, with a four digit number added to the end. For
example, the name window will be window0000 and multiple points would be window0000, window0001, etc.
Names must be valid fusion identifiers (i.e. no spaces allowed, and the name can not start with a number)
Delete
Selecting this option will delete the currently selected points.
Publish
Normally, the exact position of a point in the cloud is not exposed to the artist. To expose the position, select
opne or more points then select the Publish option from this context menu. This will add a co-ordinate control
to the control panel for each published point that displays the point's current location.
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3D Tools
[3PC] 3D Tools
Point Cloud 3D
Additional Toolbar and Shortcuts

Delete Selected Points = Del
Select All = Shift+A
Find Points = Shift+F
Rename Selected Points = F2
Create New Point = Shift+C
Toggle Names on None/Selected/Published/All Points = Shift+N
Toggle Locations on None/Selected/Published/All Points = Shift+L
Publish Selected Points = Shift+P
Unpublish Selected Points = Shift+U
Create a Shape at Selected Points = Shift+S
Create and Fit an ImagePlane to Selected Points = Shift+I
Create a Locator at Selected Points = Shift+O
1988-2014 eyeon software - www.eyeonline.com Point Cloud 3D 31

3D Tools
[3Pj] 3D Tools
Projector 3D
Description:
The Projector 3D tool is used to project an image upon 3D geometry. This can be useful in many ways; texturing objects with multiple layers, applying a texture
across multiple separate objects, projecting background shots from the cameras viewpoint, image-based rendering techniques and much more. The projector
tool is just one of several tools capable of projecting images and textures. Each method has advantages and disadvantages. See the Projection section of the 3D
chapter for more information about each approach.
Projected textures can be allowed to slide across the object, if the object moves relative to the Projector3D, or alternatively, by grouping the two together with
a Merge 3D they can be moved as one, and the texture will remain locked to the object.
The Projector 3D tools capabilities and restrictions are best understood if the Projector is considered to be a variant on the Spot Light tool. The fact that the
Projector3D tool is actually a light has several important consequences when used in Light or Ambient Light projection mode:
Lighting must be turned on for the results of the projection to be visible.

The light emitted from the projector is treated as diffuse/specular light. This means that it will be affected by the surface normals and can cause specular high-
lights. If this is undesirable, set Projector 3D to project into the ambient light channel.
Enabling shadows will cause Projector 3D to cast shadows.
Just as with other lights, the light emitted by a Projector 3D will only affect objects that feed into the first Merge 3D that is downstream of the Projector 3D
tool on the flow. Enabling Merge 3Ds Pass Through Lights checkbox will allow the projection to light objects further downstream.
The light emitted by a Projector 3D is controlled by the Lighting Options settings on objects and the Receives Lighting options on materials.
Alpha values in the projected image will not clip geometry in Light or Ambient Light mode. Use Texture mode instead.
If two projections overlap, their light contributions will be added together.
To project re-lightable textures or textures for non-diffuse color channels (like specular intensity or bump) then use the Texture projection mode instead:
Projections in texture mode will only strike objects that use the output of the Catcher tool for all or part of the material applied to that object.
Texture mode projections will clip the geometry according to the alpha channel of the projected image.
See the documentation for the Catcher tool for additional details.
The Camera 3D tool also provides a projection feature, and should be used when the projection is meant to match a camera, as this tool gives the artist more
control over aperture, film back, and clip planes. Projector 3D was designed to be used as a custom light in 3D scenes for layering and texturing. The Projector
provides better control over light intensity, color, decay and shadows.
When using projectors in an OpenGL view or in the OpenGL Renderer the lighting must be set to per-pixel (the default) in order to see the results of the pro-
jection in the main view. The per-pixel lighting mode requires a certain level of shader support from your graphics card (ie. DX9 level or higher graphics card -
generally a GeForce 5000 line or newer, Radeon 9000 line or newer will work.) Even if the graphics card does not support pixel shading the projection will still be
visible when using the software renderer.
External Inputs:
Projector3D.SceneInput
[ orange, optional ] This input expects a 3D scene. If a scene is connected to this input then transformations applied to the spotlight will also affect the rest of
the scene.
Projector3D.ProjectiveImage
[ white, optional ] This input expects a 2D image to be used for the projection.
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3D Tools
[3Pj] 3D Tools
Projector 3D
Controls
Enabled
When this checkbox is selected the projector affects the scene. Clear the checkbox to turn it off.
Color
The input image is multiplied by this color before projected into the scene.
Intensity
Use this slider to set the intensity of the projection when the light and ambient light projection modes are
used. In texture mode this option scales the color values of the texture after multiplication by the color.
Decay Type
A projector defaults to No Falloff, meaning that its light has equal intensity on geometry regardless of the
distance from the projector to the geometry. To cause the intensity to falloff with distance, set the Decay type
either to Linear, or Quadratic modes.
Angle
The cone angle of the tool refers to the width of the cone where the projector emits its full intensity. The lar-
ger the angle the wider the cone angle, up to a limit of 90 degrees.
Fit Method
The Fit Method determines how the projection is fit within the projection cone.
The first thing to know is that although this documentation may call it a 'cone', the Projector3D tool and the
Camera3D tools do not project actual cones - its more of a pyramid of light with its apex at the camera/pro-
jector. The Projector3D tool always projects a square pryamid of light, ie. its X and Y angles of view are the
same. The pyramid of light projected by the Camera3D tool can be non-square depending on what the Film
Back is set to in the camera. The aspect of the image connected into the Projector3D/Camera3D does not
affect the X/Y angles of the pyramid, but rather the image is scaled to fit into the pyramid based upon the fit
options.
When both the aspect of the pyramid (AovY/AovX) and the aspect of the image (height * pixelAspectY) /
(width * pixelAspectX) are the same, there is no need for the fit options and in this case the fit options all do
the same thing. However, when the aspect of the image and the pyramid (as determined by the Film Back
settings in Camera3D) are different the fit options become important.
For example, 'Fit by Width' will fit the width of the image across the width of the Camera3D pyramid. In this
case, if the image has a greater aspect ratio than the aspect of the pyramid, some of the projection will extend
vertically outside of the pyramid.
There are five options
Inside
The image is uniformly scaled so that its largest dimension fits inside of the cone. Another way to think about
this, is that it scales the image as big as possible subject to the restriction that the *image* is fully contained
within the pyramid of the light. This means, for example, that nothing outside the pyramid of light will ever
receive any projected light.
Width
The image is uniformly scaled so that its width fits inside the cone. Note the image could still extend outside
of the cone in its height direction.
Height
The image is uniformly scaled so that its height fits inside the cone. Note the image could still extend outside
of the cone in its width direction.
Outside
The image is uniformly scaled so that its smallest dimension fits inside of the cone. Another way to think
about this is that it scales the image as small as possible subject to the restriction that the image covers the
entire pyramid (ie. the *pyramid* is fully contained within the image) This means that any pixel of any object
inside the pyramid of light will always get illuminated.
Stretch
The image is non-uniformly scaled so it exactly covers the cone of the projector.
Projection Mode
Light
Projects the texture as a diffuse/specular light
Ambient Light
Uses an ambient light for the projection.
Texture
When used in conjunction with the Catcher tool, this mode allows re-lightable texture projections. The projec-
tion will only strike objects that use the Catcher material as part of their material shaders.
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3D Tools
[3Pj] 3D Tools
Projector 3D
One useful trick is to connect a Catcher tool to the Specular Texture input on a 3D material tool (such as a
Blinn). This will cause any object using the Blinn material to recieve the projection as part of the specular
highlight. This technique can be used in any material input that uses texture maps, such as the specular, and
reflection maps.
Shadows
Since the projector is based on a spotlight it is also capable of casting shadows using shadow maps. The cont-
rols under this reveal are used to define the size and behaviour of the shadow map.
Enable Shadows
The Enable Shadows checkbox should be selected if the light is to produce shadows. This defaults to selected.
Shadow Color
Use this standard Color control to set the color of the shadow. This defaults to black (0, 0, 0).
Density
The shadow Density determines how opaque the shadow will be. A density of 1.0 will produce a completely
transparent shadow, whereas lower values make the shadow transparent.
Shadow Map Size

The Shadow Map Size control determines the size of the bitmap used to create the shadow map. Larger values
will produce more detailed shadow maps at the expense of memory and performance.
Shadow Map Proxy

Shadow Map Proxy determines the size of the shadow map used for proxy and auto proxy calculations. A
value of 0.5 would use a 50% shadow map.
Multiplicative/Additive Bias
Shadows are essentially textures applied to objects in the scene so there will occasionally be z-fighting, where
the portions of the object that should be recieving the shadows render over top of the shadow instead. An
example of Z-fighting is shown below.
Biasing works by adding a small depth offset to move the shadow away from the surface it is shadowing,
eliminating the z-fighting. Too little bias and the objects can self-shadow themselves. Too much bias and the
shadow can become separated from the surface.
Make adjustments to the Multiplicative Bias first, then fine tune the result using the Additive Bias control.
Force All Materials Non-Transmissive

Normally, a RGBAZ shadowmap is used when rendering shadows. By enabling this option you are forcing the
renderer to use a Z only shadowmap. This can result in significantly faster shadow rendering while using a fifth
as much memory. The disadvantage is that you can no longer cast 'stained-glass' like shadows.
Shadow Map Sampling

Sets the quality for sampling of the shadow map (WIP-note Ask STephen)
Softness
Soft edges in shadows are produced by filtering the shadowmap when it is sampled. Fusion has three separate
filtering methods available when rendering shadows which produce different effects.
None
Shadows will have a hard edge. No filtering of the shadowmap is done at all. The advantage of this method is
that you only have to sample one pixel in the shadowmap so it is fast.
Constant
Shadows edges will have a constant softness. A filter with a constant width is used when sampling the sha-
dowmap. The size of the filter is controlled by adjusting the Constant Softness slider. Note that the larger you
make the filter, the longer that it will take to render the shadows.
Variable
The softness of shadow edges will grow the further away the shadow receiver is from the shadow caster. The
variable softness is achieved by changing the size of the filter based on the distance between the receiver and
caster. When this option is selected, the Softness Falloff, Min Softness and Max Softness sliders appear.
Constant Softness
If the Softness is set to constant, then this slider will appear. It can be used to set the overall softness of the
shadow.

3D Tools
[3Pj] 3D Tools
Projector 3D
Softness Falloff
The Softness Falloff slider appears when the Softness is set to variable. This slider controls how fast the soft-
ness of shadow edges grows with distance. To be more precise, it controls how fast the shadowmap filter size
grows based upon the distance between shadow caster and receiver. Its affect is mediated by the values of the
min and max softness sliders.
Min Softness
The Min Softness slider appears when the Softness is set to variable. This slider controls the Minimum Soft-
ness of the shadow. The closer the shadow is to the object casting the shadow, the sharper it will be up to the
limit set by this slider.
Max Softness
The Max Softness slider appears when the Softness is set to variable. This slider controls the Maximum Soft-
ness of the shadow. The further the shadow is from the object casting the shadow, the softer it will be up to
the limit set by this slider.
Transform Tab

3D Tools
[3Rn] 3D Tools
Renderer 3D
Description:
The Render 3D tool converts the 3D environment into a 2D image using either a default perspective camera, or else one of the cameras found in the scene.
Every 3D scene in a composition should terminate with at least one Render 3D tool. The Renderer tool can use either of the software or OpenGL render engi-
nes to produce the resulting image. Additional render engines may also be available via third party plugins.
The Software render engine uses the systems CPU only to produce the rendered images. It is usually much slower than the OpenGL render engine, but produ-
ces consistent results on all machines making it essential for renders that involve network rendering. The software mode is required to produce soft shadows,
and generally supports all available illumination, texture, and material features.
The OpenGL render engine employs the GPU processor on the graphics card to accelerate the rendering of the 2D images. The output may vary slightly from
system to system, depending on the exact graphics card installed. The graphics card driver can also effect the results from the OpenGL renderer. The OpenGL
render engines speed makes it possible to provide customized supersampling and realistic 3D depth of field options. Soft shadows cannot be generated by
the OpenGL Renderer. For soft shadows the Software Renderer is recommended.
Like most tools, the Renderers motion blur settings can be found under the common control tab (looks like a nuclear warning symbol). Be aware that scenes
containing one or more particle systems will require that the motion blur settings on the pRender tools exactly match the settings on the Renderer 3D tool.
Otherwise the sub-frame renders will conflict producing unexpected (and incorrect) results.
Note that the GL Renderer in Fusion 6 now respects the color depth option in the radioactive tab of the Renderer3D tool. This can cause slowdowns on certain
graphics cards when rendering to int16 or float32. See the GL Renderer slow in int16/float32 FAQ for more information.
External Inputs:
Renderer3D.SceneInput
Renderer3D.EffectMask
[ violet, optional ] This input uses a single or four channel 2D image to mask the output of the tool.
Controls
Camera
The Camera drop-down list is used to select which camera from the scene is used when rendering. The default
option is Default, which will use the first camera found in the scene. If no camera is located the default per-
spective view will be used instead.
Eye
The Eye control tells the tool how to render the image in stereoscopic projects. The Mono option will ignore
the stereoscopic settings in the camera. The Left and Right options will translate the camera using the stereo
seperation and convergence options defined in the camera to produce either left or right eye outputs.
Reporting
The first two checkboxes in this reveal can be used to determine whether the tool will print warnings and error
produced while rendering to the console. The second row of checkboxes tells the tool whether it should abort
rendering when a warning or error is encountered. The default for this tool enables all four checkboxes.
Renderer Type
This drop down menu lists the available render engines. Fusion provides two the Software and OpenGL render
engines (described above) and additional renderers can be added via third party plugins.
All of the controls found below this drop down menu are added by the render engine. They may change
depending on the options available to each renderer. As a result each renderer is described in it's own section
below.
1988-2014 eyeon software - www.eyeonline.com [3Rn] 36

3D Tools
[3Rn] 3D Tools
Renderer 3D
Software Controls
Output Channels
In addition to the usual red, Green, Blue and Alpha channels the software renderer can also embed the fol-
lowing channels into the image. Enabling additional channels will consume additional memory and processing
time, so these should be used only when required.
RGBA
This option tells the renderer to produce the red, green, blue and alpha color channels of the image. These
channels are required and they cannot be disabled.
Z
This option enables rendering of the Z-channel. The pixels in the Z-channel contain a value that represent the
distance of each pixel from the camera. Note that the Z-Channel values cannot include anti-aliasing. In pixels
where multiple depths overlap, the frontmost depth value is used for this pixel.
Coverage
This option enables rendering of the coverage channel. The coverage channel contains information about
which pixels in the z-buffer provide coverage (are overlapping with other objects). This helps tools that use
the Z-buffer to provide a small degree of antialiasing. The value of the pixels in this channel indicate as a per-
centage how much of the pixel is composed of the foreground object.
BgColor
This option enables rendering of the BgColor channel. This channel contains the color values from objects
behind the pixels described in the coverage channel.
Normal
This option enables rendering of the X, Y and Z Normals channels. These three channels contain pixel values
that indicate the orientation (direction) of each pixel in the 3D space. Each axis is represented by a color chan-
nel containing values in a range from [-1,1].
TexCoord
This option enables rendering of the U and V mapping co-ordinate channels. The pixels in these channels
contain the texture coordinates of the pixel. Although texture coordinates are processed internally within the
3D system as 3 component UVW, Fusion images only store UV components. These components are mapped
into the Red and Green color channel.
ObjectID
This option enables rendering of the ObjectID channel. Each object in the 3D environment can be assigned a
numeric identifier when it is created. The pixels in this floating point image channel contain the values assig-
ned to the objects that produced the pixel. Empty pixels have an ID of 0, and the channel supports values as
high as 65534. Multiple objects can share a single Object ID . This buffer is useful for extracting mattes based
on the shapes of objects in the scene.
MaterialID
This option enables rendering of the ObjectID channel. Each material in the 3D environment can be assigned
a numeric identifier when it is created. The pixels in this floating point image channel contain the values assi-
gned to the materials that produced the pixel. Empty pixels have an ID of 0, and the channel supports values
as high as 65534. Multiple materials can share a single Material ID . This buffer is useful for extracting mattes
based on a texture - for example a mask containing all of the pixels which comprise a brick texture.
Lighting
Enable Lighting
When the Enable Lighting checkbox is selected, objects will be lit by any lights in the scene. If no lights are
present, all objects will be black.
Enable Shadows
When the Enable Shadows checkbox is selected, the renderer will produce shadows, at the cost of some
speed.
1988-2014 eyeon software - www.eyeonline.com Renderer 3D 37

3D Tools
[3Rn] 3D Tools
Renderer 3D
OpenGL Controls
Output Channels
In addition to the usual Red, Green, Blue and Alpha channels the OpenGL render engine can also embed the
following channels into the image. Enabling additional channels will consume additional memory and proces-
sing time, so these should be used only when required.
RGBA
This option tells the renderer to produce the red, green, blue and alpha color channels of the image. These
channels are required and they cannot be disabled.
Z
This option enables rendering of the Z-channel. The pixels in the Z-channel contain a value that represent the
distance of each pixel from the camera. Note that the Z-Channel values cannot include anti-aliasing. In pixels
where multiple depths overlap, the frontmost depth value is used for this pixel.
Normal
This option enables rendering of the X, Y and Z Normals channels. These three channels contain pixel values
that indicate the orientation (direction) of each pixel in the 3D space. Each axis is represented by a color chan-
nel containing values in a range from [-1,1].
TexCoord
This option enables rendering of the U and V mapping co-ordinate channels. The pixels in these channels
contain the texture coordinates of the pixel. Although texture coordinates are processed internally within the
3D system as 3 component UVW, Fusion images only store UV components. These components are mapped
into the Red and Green color channel.
ObjectID
This option enables rendering of the ObjectID channel. Each object in the 3D environment can be assigned a
numeric identifier when it is created. The pixels in this floating point image channel contain the values assig-
ned to the objects that produced the pixel. Empty pixels have an ID of 0, and the channel supports values as
high as 65534. Multiple objects can share a single Object ID . This buffer is useful for extracting mattes based
on the shapes of objects in the scene.
MaterialID
This option enables rendering of the ObjectID channel. Each material in the 3D environment can be assigned
a numeric identifier when it is created. The pixels in this floating point image channel contain the values assi-
gned to the materials that produced the pixel. Empty pixels have an ID of 0, and the channel supports values
as high as 65534. Multiple materials can share a single Material ID . This buffer is useful for extracting mattes
based on a texture - for example a mask containing all of the pixels which comprise a brick texture.
Supersampling
Supersampling can be enabled for each channel by means of the SS tickbox.
It produces an output image with higher quality anti-aliasing by brute force rendering a much larger image,
then rescaling it down to the target resolution. The exact same results can be achieved by rendering a larger
image in the first place, then using a Resize tool to bring the image to the desired resolution. Using the su-
persampling built into the renderer offers two distinct advantages over this method
The rendering is not restricted by memory or image size limitations. For example, consider the steps to create
a float16 1920 x 1080 image with 16x supersampling. Using the traditional resize tool would require first
rendering the image with a resolution of 30720 x 17280 then using a resize to scale this image back down to
1920 x 1080. Simply producing the image would require nearly 4GB of memory. When supersampling is per-
formed on the GPU the OpenGL renderer can use tile rendering to significantly reduce memory usage.
The GL Renderer can perform the rescaling of the image directly on the GPU much more quickly that the CPU
can manage it. In general, the more GPU memory the graphics card has the faster the operation will be.
Interactively Fusion will skip the supersampling stage unless the HiQ button is selected in the Time Ruler. Final
quality renders will always include supersampling if it is enabled.
Due to hardware limitations point geometry (particles) and lines (locators) are always rendered at their ori-
ginal size - independent from supersampling. This means that these elements will be scaled down from their
original sizes, and will likely appear much thinner than expected.
Supersampling of aux channels in the OpenGL renderer

The reason we supply separate SS options for color and aux channels is that supersampling of color channels
is a quite a bit slower than aux channels. The artist may find that 4x4 SS is sufficient for color but for World-
Position or Z artist wants 64x64 to get adequate results. The reasons color SS is slower are that
the shaders for RGBA can be 10x to even 100x or 1000x more complex, and color is rendered with sorting
enabled, while aux channels get rendered using the much faster zbuffer method.
Note:
RGBA supersampling is no longer enabled in the Supersampling nest, but rather in the OutputChannels nest.

3D Tools
[3Rn] 3D Tools
Renderer 3D
Note:
For some things, some of the time using an SS Z buffer will improve quality but for other things like using the
Merges PerformDepthMerge option it may make things worse.
Note:
Do not mistake SS with improved quality. SSing an aux channel does not mean its better quality. In fact,
SSing an aux channel in many cases can make the results much worse. The only channels we recommend you
enable SS on are WorldCoord and Z.
Note:
We strongly recommend to DISable SSing on MaterialID and ObjectID channels.
We recommend to DISable SSing on TexCoord, Normal, BackVector, and Vector channels.
The issue here arises when you have multiple 3D surfaces with radically different TexCoord values in one pixel.
The SSing does not restrict itself to sampling the main surface, but with sample both surfaces. For example:
if one surface has TexCoords that are approx (u,v)=(0, 0) within that pixel and the other surface has (0.5, 0.5)
you will get a blending of these two. The blended area of the texture could have colors like (0, 0) or (0.5, 0.5)
resulting in an oddly colored pixel artifact being output from the 2D Texture tool. The same problem can
happen for normals.
Enable (HiQ only)

This checkbox can be used to enables supersampling of the rendered image. The remaining controls in this
reveal will only appear if this is selected.
Lock X/Y Supersampling Rates

When this checkbox is disabled seperate sliders are presented to control the amount of supersampling on the
X and Y axis.
Supersampling Rate X
The supersampling rate tells the OpenGL render how large to scale the image. eg. If the supersampling rate
is set to 4 and the GL Renderer is set to output a 1920 x 1080 image, internally a 7680 x 4320 image will be
rendered and then scaled back to produce the target image. Set the multiplier higher to get better edge
antialiasing at the expense of render time. Typically 8x8 supersampling (64 samples per pixel) is sufficient to
reduce most aliasing artifacts.
The supersampling rate doesn't exactly define the number of samples done per destination pixel - the width
of the reconstruction filter used may also have an impact.
Reconstruction Filter
When downsampling the supersized image the surrounding pixels around a given pixel are often used to
give a more realistic result. There are various filters available for combining these pixels. More complex filters
can give better results, but are usually slower to calculate. The best filter for the job will often depend on the
amount of scaling and on the contents of the image itself.
The functions of these filters are shown in the image above. From left to right these are:
* Box - This is a simple interpolation scale of the image.

* Bi-Linear (triangle) - This uses a simplistic filter, which produces relatively clean and fast results.
* Bi-Cubic (quadratic) - This filter produces a nominal result. It offers a good compromise between speed and
quality.
* Bi-Spline (cubic) - This produces better results with continuous tone images but is slower than Quadratic. If
the images have fine detail in them, the results may be blurrier than desired.
* Catmul-Rom - This produces good results with continuous tone images which are scaled down, producing
sharp results with finely detailed images.
* Gaussian - This is very similar in speed and quality to Quadratic.
* Mitchell - This is similar to Catmull-Rom but produces better results with finely detailed images. It is slower
than Catmull-Rom.
* Lanczos - This is very similar to Mitchell and Catmull-Rom but is a little cleaner and also slower.
* Sinc - This is an advanced filter that produces very sharp, detailed results, however, it may produce visible
`ringing' in some situations.
* Bessel - This is similar to the Sinc filter but may be slightly faster.
Window Method
The Window Method menu appears only when the Reconstruction Filter is set to Sinc or Bessel.
* Hanning - This is a simple tapered window.

* Hamming - Hamming is a slightly tweaked version of Hanning.
* Blackman - A window with a more sharply tapered falloff.
Lock Tweak Filter Width/Height

When this checkbox is disabled it is possible to set different values for the X and Y axis when setting the filter
width.

3D Tools
[3Rn] 3D Tools
Renderer 3D
Tweak Filter Width

This slider can be used to adjust the size of the filter kernel. The kernal describes how many of the pixels sur-
rounding the current pixel are sampled to produce the scaled result. Decreasing the width of the filter causes
the anti-aliasing in the resulting image to appear sharper while increasing it makes it seem blurrier.
Each type of filter has a default width setting. For example, a box filter by default uses a 1x1 kernel, a triangle
filter is 2x2, a bi-cubic filter is 3x3, b-spline and catmull-rom use 4x4, while a gaussian filter is 3.34x3.34. The
kernel width of the filter is essentially multiplied by the value set in this control.
This can be used as a mechanism to blur to the resulting image but it not recommended as its becomes in-
creasingly inefficient for larger tweak multipliers and consumes significantly more resources. Larger values will
often cause a graphics card to fail entirely. For values higher than 4 using a Blur tool on the output image will
almost certainly be more efficient.
Accumulation Effects
Accumulation Effects are created by rendering multiple subframes to produce the final image. This technique
allows depth of field rendering on the graphic hardware. Future versions of Fusion may also allow additional
effects based on the accumulation technique.
Enable Accumulation Effects

This checkbox enables calculation of the Accumulation effects. While the OpenGL renderer currently provides
only a Depth of Field accumulation, additional modes are planned for the future, so a global switch has been
provided.
Depth of Field
This checkbox enables Depth of Field rendering. Depth of Field is created by rendering sub-frame then com-
bining them into a single frame. In each subframe the camera is rotated around a virtual target point. The
distance to the target point is set by the Plane of Focus control in the Camera 3D tool. Pixels at the Plane of
Focus will appear to be in focus.
If supersampling is enabled then each sub-frame will be produced using the supersampled size.
For reasons of efficiency the sub-frames created for the DOF effect are also used to produce motion blur
when this option is enabled in the common controls tab (marked with the nuclear symbol). Effectively both
features share sub-frames.
Depth of Field Quality

This control sets the number of sub-frames used to create the DoF calculation. As with motion blur, the value
of the control is doubled internally, so setting this control to 2 actually produces 5 sub-frames (4 + 1 original).
If both motion blur and DOF are enabled the number of sub-frames produced is determined by the higher
quality value. This prevents the number of subframes produced from growing exponentially.
The following images shows the effect of DoF Quality on a small circle:
The value of the controls are from left to right0, 1, 2, 8, 32, 128, 1024, 4096.
Amount of DoF Blur

Defines how much the camera is moved per subframe from its original position. A higher value will result in a
blurrier image or stronger DoF effect.
Lighting
Enable Lighting
When the Enable Lighting checkbox is selected, objects will be lit by any lights in the scene. If no lights are
present, all objects will be black.
Enable Shadows
When the Enable Shadows checkbox is selected, the renderer will produce shadows, at the cost of some
speed.
Lighting Mode
The per-vertex lighting model calculates lighting at each vertex of the scenes geometry. This produces a fast
approximation of the scene's lighting, but tends to produce blocky lighting on poorly tesselated objects. The
per-pixel method uses a different method that does not rely on the amount of detail in the scenes geometry
for lighting, so generally produces superior results.

3D Tools
[3Rn] 3D Tools
Renderer 3D
While using per-pixel lighting in the OpenGL renderer produces results closer to that produced by the more accura-
te software renderer, it still has some disadvantages. Even with per-pixel lighting, the OpenGL renderer is less capab-
le of dealing correctly with semi transparency, soft shadows and colored shadows. The color depth of the rendering
will be limited by the capabilities of the graphics card in the system.
Transparency
The OpenGL renderer reveals this control for selecting which ordering method to use when calculating transparency.
Z Buffer (fast)
This mode is extremely fast, and is adequate for scenes containing only opaque objects. The speed of this mode
comes at the cost of accurate sorting - only the objects closest to the camera are certain to be in the correct sort
order. As a result semi-transparent objects may not be shown correctly, depending on their ordering within the
scene.
Sorted (accurate)
This mode will sort all objects in the scene (at the expense of speed) before rendering, giving correct transparency.
Quick Mode
This experimental mode is best suited to scenes that almost exclusively contain particles.
Shading Model
Use this menu to select a Shading Model to use for materials in the scene. Smooth is the shading model employed
in the views and Flat produces a simpler and faster shading model.
Wireframe
Renders the whole scene as wireframe. This will show the edges and polygons of the objects. The edges are still
shaded by the material of the objects.
Wireframe Antialiasing
Enables anti-aliasing for the wireframe render.

3D Tools
[3Rn] 3D Tools
Renderer 3D
OpenGL UV unwrap renderer

Takes a model with existing textures and renders it out via the RendererGLUV3D to produce an unwound flattened 2D ver-
sion of the model. Optionally lighting can be baked in. You can then paint on the texture and reapply it.
Caution:
After you have baked in lighting into a models texture, you need to be careful to turn lighting off on the object in the fu-
ture when you render it with the burnt-in-lighting texture.
Issue:
Beware of cases where a single area of the texture map is used on multiple areas of the model. This is often done to save
texture memory and decrease modeling time. An example of this is the texture for a person where the artist mirrored the
left side mesh/UVs/texture to produce the right side. Trying to burn in lighting in this case wont work.
Issue:
Unwrapping more than one mesh at once can cause problems. The reason is that most models are authored so they make
maximal usage of (u,v) in [0,1]x[0,1], so that in general models will overlap each other in UV space.
Issue:
Seams. When the UV gutter size is left at 0 this produces seams when the model is retextured with the unwrapped texture.
UV Gutter Size:
Increase this value to hide seams between faces.

3D Tools
[3Rpl] 3D Tools
Replace Material 3D
Description:
The Replace Material 3D tool replaces the material applied to all of the geometry in the input scene with it's own material input. Any lights or cameras in the input scene are passed through
unaffected.
The scope of the replacement can be limited using object and material identifiers. The scope can also be limited to individual channels, making it possible to use a completely different ma-
terial on the red channel, for example.
External Inputs:
ReplaceMaterial3D.SceneInput
ReplaceMaterial3D.MaterialInput
[ green, optional ] This input will accept either a 2D image or a 3D material. If a 2D image is provided it will be used as a diffuse texture map for the basic materi-
al built into the tool. If a 3D material is connected then the basic material will be disabled.
Controls
Enable
Enables the material replacement.
Replace Mode
Red, Green, Blue, and Alpha Mode
Offers several replacing modes for each RGBA channel:
Keep
Prevents the channel from being replaced by the input material
Replace
Replaces the material for the according color channel.
Blend
Blends the materials together.
Multiply
Multiplies the according channels of both inputs.
Limit by object ID / material ID

When enabled a slider appears where the desired IDs can be set. All other objects will keep their materials. If
both options are enabled an object must satisfy both conditions.
Material Tab
1988-2014 eyeon software - www.eyeonline.com [3Rpl] 43

3D Tools
[3Rn] 3D Tools
Replace Normals 3D
Description:
ReplaceNormals is used to replace the normals/tangents on incoming geometry. All geometry in the input scene is affected.
Lights/Cameras/PointClouds/Locators/Materials and other non-mesh tools are passed through unaffected.
The normals/tangents affected by this tool are per-vertex normals/tangents, not per-face normals/tangents.
The input geometry must have texture coordinates in order for tangents to be computed.
Sometimes geometry does not have texture coordinates or the texture coordinates were set to all by FBX import because they were not present on the FBX.
Controls
PreWeld Position Vertices
Prewelds the position vertices - sometimes position vertices are duplicated in a geometry even though they have the same
position causing normals/tangents to be miscomputed.
The results of prewelding are thrown away, they do not affect the output geometrys position vertices.
Recompute
Controls when normals/tangents are recomputed.
Always
The normals on the mesh will always be recomputed.
If Not Present
The normals on the mesh are recomputed only if they are not present.
Never
The normals will never be computed. This option is useful when animating.
Smoothing Angle
Adjacent faces with angles in degrees smaller than this will have their adjoining edges smoothed across.
A typical value one might choose for the smoothing angle is between 20 and 60 degrees.
There is special case code for 0.0f and 360.0f. When set to 0.0f faceted normals are produced - this is useful for artistic
effect.
Ignore Smooth Groups

If set to false two faces that have different smoothgroups will not be smoothed across, eg. the faces of a cube
or the top surfaces of a cylinder have different smoothgroup. If you check this on and set the smoothing angle large
enough the faces of a cube will be smoothed across. There is currently no way to visualize smoothgroups within Fusion.
Flip Normals
Flipping of tangents can sometime be confusing.
Flip will have an effect if the mesh has tangent vectors.
Most meshes in Fusion dont have tangent vectors until they reach a Renderer3D, though.
Also, when viewing tangent vectors in the views the tangent vectors will be created if they dont exist.
The confusing thing is if you view a Cube3D which has no tangent vectors and press the FlipU/FlipV button nothing hap-
pens. This is because there were no tangent vectors to create but later the GL renderer created some (unflipped) tangent
vectors.
Known issues:
The FBX importer will recompute the normals if they dont exist, but you can get a higher quality result from this tool
Bumpmaps can sometimes depend on the models normals. In particular, when you simplify a complex high poly model to a low poly model + bumpmap, the normals and
bumpmap can become linked. Recomputing the normals in this case can make the model look funny. The bumpmap was intended to be used with those normals.
Most primitives in Fusion are not generated with tangents - when needed they are generated on the fly by a Renderer3D and cached.
Tangents currently are only needed for bumpmapping. If a material needs bumpmapping then tangents are created.
These tangents are created with some default settings (eg. smoothingAngle, etc) and if you dont want want fusion automatically creating tangents
you should manually create them using ReplaceNormals.
All the computations are done in the local coordinates of the geometries rather than in the coord system of the ReplaceNormals3D tool. This can cause problems when there
is a non-uniform scale applied to the geometry before ReplaceNormals3D is applied.
1988-2014 eyeon software - www.eyeonline.com [3Rn] 44

3D Tools
[3Rep] 3D Tools
Replicate 3D
Description:
The Replicate 3D tool replicates input geometry at positions of destination vertices. This includes mesh vertices as well as particle positions. For each copy of the replicated input geometry
various transformations can be applied. The options in the Jitter tab allow for non-uniform transformations, such as random positioning or sizes.
External Inputs:
Replicate3D.Destination
[ orange, required ] This input expects a 3D scene with vertex positions either from meshes or 3D particle animations.
Replicate3D.Input[#]
[ any, required ] This input expects a 3D scene that will be replicated. Once connected a new input for alternating 3D scenes will be created.
At least one connected input is required.
Controls
Step
Defines how many positions are skipped. For example a Step of 3 means that only every 3rd position of the Destination
Mesh will be used while a Step of 1 means that all positions will be used.
The step helps to keep reasonable performance for big destination meshes. On parametric geometry like a torus it can
be used to isolate certain parts of the mesh.
PointClouds are internally represented by 6 points once the Make Renderable option has been set.
In order to get a single point use a Step of 6 and set a X Offset of -0.5 in the Replicate3D to get to the center of the
PointCloud. Use -0.125 for Locator3Ds. Once these have been scaled the offset may differ.
Input Mode
This parameter defines in which order multiple input scenes are replicated at the destination. Both parameters wont
have a visible effect if only one input scene is supplied.
With Loop the inputs are used successively. The first input will be at the first position, the second at the second and so
on. If there are more positions in the destination present than inputs the sequence will be looped.
Random will use a definite but random input for each position based on the Seed in the JitterTab. This Input Mode can
be used to simulate variety with few input scenes.
Death of Particles causes their IDs to change. Therefore their copy order may change.
Time Offset
animation from a frame earlier. The second copy will show animation from a frame before that, and so forth.
This can be used with great effect on textured planes, for example, where successive frames of a clip can be shown.
1988-2014 eyeon software - www.eyeonline.com [3Rep] 45

3D Tools
[3Rep] 3D Tools
Replicate 3D
Alignment
Alignment specifies how to align the copies in respect of the destination mesh normal or particle rotation.
Not aligned
Does not align the copy. It stays rotated in the same direction as its input mesh.
Aligned
This mode uses the points normal and tries to reconstruct an upvector. It works best with organic meshes that have
unwelded vertices like imported FBX meshes since it has same rotations for vertices at the same positions. On plane
geometric meshes there will be a gradual shift in rotation noticeable. For best results it is recommended to use this
method at the origin before any transformations.
Aligned TBN
Results in a more accurate and stable alignment based on the Tangent, Binormal and Normal of the destination point.
Works best for particles and geometric shapes. On unwelded meshes two copies of multiple unwelded points at the
same position may result in different alignments due to their individual normals.
1988-2014 eyeon software - www.eyeonline.com Replicate 3D 46

3D Tools
[3Rep] 3D Tools
Replicate 3D
Color
Affects the diffuse color or shader of each copy based on the inputs particle color.
Use Object Color

Does not use the color of the destination particle.
Combine Particle Color

Uses the shader of any input mesh and modifies the diffuse color to match the color from the destination particle.
Use Particle Color

Replaces the complete shader of any input mesh with a default shader. Its diffuse color is taken from the destination
particle.
Translation
These three sliders tell the tool how much offset to apply to each copy. So an X Offset of 1 would offset each copy 1
unit 1 unit along the X axis from the last copy.
Rotation Order
These buttons can be used to set the order in which rotations are applied to the geometry. Setting the rotation order to
XYZ would apply the rotation on the X axis first, followed by the Y axis rotation, then the Z axis rotation.
XYZ Rotation
These three rotation sliders tell the tool how much rotation to apply to each copy.
XYZ Pivot
The Pivot controls determine the position of the pivot point used when rotating each copies.
Lock XYZ
When the Lock XYZ checkbox is selected any adjustment to the scale will be applied to all three axis simultaneously. If
this checkbox is disabled the Scale slider will be replaced with individual sliders for the X, Y and Z scale.
Scale
The Scale controls sets how much scaling to apply to each copy.

3D Tools
[3Rep] 3D Tools
Replicate 3D
Jitter
The Random Seed is used to 'seed' the amount of jitter applied to the replicated objects. Two Replicate tools with iden-
tical settings but different random seeds will produce two completely different results. Click on the randomize button
to assign a random seed value.
Time Offset
Translation XYZ Jitter

Use these three controls to adjust the amount of variation in the translation of the replicated objects.
Rotation XYZ Jitter

Use these three controls to adjust the amount of variation in the rotation of the replicated objects.
Pivot XYZ Jitter

Use these three controls to adjust the amount of variation in the rotational pivot center of the replicated objects. This
affects only the additional jitter rotation, not the rotation produced by the Rotation settings in the Controls tab.
Scale XYZ Jitter

Use this control to adjust the amount of variation in the scale of the replicated objects. Uncheck the Lock XYZ checkbox
to adjust the scale variation independently on all three axis.

3D Tools
[3Ri] 3D Tools
Ribbon 3D
Description:
Ribbon 3D Generates an array of subdivided line segments or a single line between two points.
It is quite useful for motion graphics, especially in connection with Replicate 3D, to attach other geometry to the lines,
and with Displace3D for creating lightning-bolt like structures.
The array of lines are by default assigned with texture coordinates, so they can be used with a 2D texture.
As usual, UVMap3D can be used to alter the texture coordinates.
This tool heavily relies on certain OpenGL features and will not produce any visible result in the Software Renderer.
Furthermore, the way how lines are drawn is completely up to the graphic card vendor so any artifacts may vary from card to card.
Controls
Number of Lines
The number of parallel lines drawn between the Start- and Endpoint.
Line Thickness
LineThickness is allowed in the user interface to take on a floating point value,
but some graphics cards will only allow integer values.
Some cards may only allow lines equal to, or thicker than 1, or max out at a certain value.
Subdivision Level
The number of vertices on each line between Start- and Endpoint.
The higher the number, the more precise any 3D-Displacement can be applied.
Ribbon Width
Determines how far the lines are apart from each other.
Start
XYZ-Control to set the Startpoint of the Ribbon.
End
XYZ-Control to set the Endpoint of the Ribbon.
Ribbon Rotation
Allows to rotate the Ribbon around the virtual axis defined by Start- and Endpoint.
Antialiasing
Allows to apply AA to the rendered Lines. Using Antialiasing isnt necessarily advised.
When activated, there will be gaps between the line segments.
This is especially noticable with high values of LineThickness.
Again, the way lines are drawn is completely up to the graphic card vendor
which means that these artifacts can vary from card to card.
1988-2014 eyeon software - www.eyeonline.com [3Ri] 49

3D Tools
[3Sh] 3D Tools
Shape 3D
Description:
The Shape 3D tool is used to produce several basic primitive 3D shapes, including planes, cubes, spheres and cylinders.
External Inputs:
Shape3D.SceneInput
Shape3D.MaterialInput
[ green, optional ] [ green, optional ] This input will accept either a 2D image or a 3D material. If a 2D image is provided it will be used as a diffuse texture map
for the basic material built into the tool. If a 3D material is connected then the basic material will be disabled.
Controls
Shape
Select one of these options to determine which geometry primitive will be produced by the Shape 3D tool.
The controls below will change to match the selected shape.
Lock Width / Height / Depth

[ Plane, Cube ] If this checkbox is selected, the Width, Height and Depth controls are locked together as a
single Size slider. Otherwise, individual control over the size of the shape along each axis is provided.
Size Width / Height / Depth

[ Plane, Cube ] Used to control the size of the shape.
Cube Mapping
[ Cube ] Uses cube mapping to apply the Shape tool's texture (a 2D image connected to the texture input).
Radius
[ Sphere, Cylinder, Cone, Torus ] Sets the radius of the selected shape.
Top Radius
[ Cone ] This control is used to define a radius for the top of a Cone, making it possible to create truncated
cones.
Start / End Angle

[ Sphere, Cylinder, Cone, Torus ] This range control determines how much of the sweep of the shape is drawn.
A start angle of 180 and end angle of 360 would only draw half of the shape.
Start / End Latitude

[ Sphere, Torus ] This range control determines is used to slice the object by defining a latitudinal sub-section
of the object.
Bottom / Top Cap

[ Cylinder, Cone ] Used for Cylinder and Cone shapes only, the Bottom Cap and Top Cap checkboxes are used
to determine if the end caps of these shapes are created or if the shape is left open.
Section
[ Torus ] Used for Torus only, Section controls the thickness of the tube making up the torus.
Subdivision Level / Base / Height

[ All Shapes ] Used for all shapes, the Subdivision controls are used to determine the tessellation of the mesh
composing the object. The higher the subdivision, the more vertices each shape will have.
Wireframe
Enabling this checkbox will cause the mesh to render only the Wireframe for the object. When this manual
was printed, only the OpenGL renderer supported wireframe, but that may have changed in the time between
printing and release.
1988-2014 eyeon software - www.eyeonline.com [3Sh] 50

3D Tools
[3Sh] 3D Tools
Shape 3D
Visibility
Visible
Unseen by Cameras


Lighting
Affected By Lights
Shadow Caster
Shadow Receiver
Matte
Is Matte
Opaque Alpha
Infinite Z
Blend Mode
OpenGL Blend Mode

Software Blend Mode

1988-2014 eyeon software - www.eyeonline.com Shape 3D 51

3D Tools
[3Sh] 3D Tools
Shape 3D
Material Tab
Transform Tab
Sphere Map vs. Connecting the texture to a Sphere directly

You can connect a latlong (equirectangular) texture map (see http://wiki.panotools.org/Equirectangular)
directly to a sphere instead of piping it through the Sphere Map tool first. This results in a different rendering
if you set the start/end angle and latitude to less than 360/180. In the first case, the texture will be squashed.
When using the Sphere Map tool, the texture will be cropped. Compare:
Note: If you pipe the texture directly into the sphere, it will also be mirrored horizontally. You can fix this by
using a Transform tool first.)
1988-2014 eyeon software - www.eyeonline.com Shape 3D 52

3D Tools
[3SC] 3D Tools
SoftClip
Description:
The SoftClip tool is used to fade out geometry and particles that get close to the camera. This to help avoid the visible 'popping off' that affects many particle systems and 3D flythroughs. This
tool is very similar to the Fog 3D tool, in that it is dependent on the geometries distance from the camera.
The SoftClip tool is usually placed just before the renderer to ensure that downstream adjustments to lighting and textures do not affect the result. It can be placed in any part of the 3d porti-
on of the flow if the soft clipping effect is only required for a portion of the scene.
External Inputs:
SoftClip.SceneInput
Controls
Enable
This checkbox can be used to enable or disable the tool.
Smooth Transition
Changes the linear gradient to a curve shaped one.
Radial
By default the softclipping is done based upon the perpendicular distance to a plane (parallel with the near plane)
passing through the eye point. When the radial option is checked the radial distance to the eye point is used instead
of the perpendicular distance. The problem with perpendicular distance softclipping is that when you move the camera
about, as objects on the left or right side of the frustum move into the center they become less clipped even though
they remain the same distance from the eye. Radial softclip fixes this. Sometimes radial softclipping is not desirable. For
example if you apply softclip to an object that is close to the camera like an image plane the center of the image plane
could be unclipped while the edges could be fully clipped because they are further from the eye point.
Show In Display Views

Normally the effect is only visible when the scene is viewed using a Camera tool. When enabled, the softclip becomes
visible in the scene from all points of view.
Transparent/Opaque Distance
Defines the range of the softclip. The objects will begin to fade in from an opacity of 0 at the Transparent Distance and
are fully visible at the opaque distance. All units are expressed as distance from the camera along the z-axis.
1988-2014 eyeon software - www.eyeonline.com [3SC] 53

3D Tools
[3Txt] 3D Tools
Text 3D
Description:
The Text3D tool is a 3D version of the 2D Text tool. The controls for this tool are mostly identical to the controls for the 2D version in almost all respects, except that it currently only supports
one shading element. See Text Plus for more details on the controls found in this tool.
The Text 3D tool was based on a tool which pre-dates the Fuson 3D environment. As a result, some of the controls found in the basic primitive shapes and geometry loaders are not found in
this tools controls. Specifically many of the material, lighting and matte options are not found in this tools controls. The Text 3D tool has a built in material, but unlike the other 3D tools it does
not have a material input. The shading tab contains controls to adjust the diffuse and specular components. To replace this default material with a more advanced material follow the Text Plus
tool with a Replace Material 3D tool. The Override 3D tool can be used to control the lighting, visibility and matte options for this tool.
One thing to beware of when network-rendering a comp that contains a Text3D tool is that each machine that does not have the font installed will fail. Fusion can not share or copy fonts to
renderslaves due to legal issues.
External Inputs:
Text3D.SceneInput
Text3D.ColorImage
[ orange, required ] This input expects a 2D image. It is only visible when the Image mode is enabled in the Material section of the Shading tab.
Text3D.BevelTexture
[ orange, required ] This input expects a 2D image. It is only visible when the Image mode is enabled in the Bevel Material section of the Shading tab.
Text
Extrusion
Extrusion Depth
An extrusion of 0 produces completely 2D text. Any value greater than 0 will extrude the text to generate text with
depth.
Bevel Depth
Increase the value of the Bevel Depth slider to bevel the text . The text must have extrusion before this control has any
effect.
Bevel Width
Use the Bevel Width control to increase the width of the bevel.
Smoothing Angle
Use this control to adjust the smoothing angle applied to the edges of the bevel.
Front/Back Bevel
Use these checkboxes to enable beveling for the front and back faces of the text separately
Custom Extrusion
In Custom mode, the SmoothingAngle controls the smoothing of normals *around* the edges of a text character.
The spline itself controls the smoothing *along* the extrusion profile.
If a spline segment is smoothed, for axample by using the shortcut Shift-S, the normals will be smoothed as well.
If the keypoint is linear there will be a sharp shading edge.
The first and last keypoint on the spline defines the extent of the text
Custom Extrusion Subdivisions:

Controls the number of subdivision within the smoothed portions of the extrusion profile.
Tip:
Remember that the spline can also be edited from within the Spline Editor tab and you do not have to work with the
limited abilities and size of the Text3D.ExtrusionProfile spline control.
Do not try to go to zero size at the front/back face.

This will result in z fighting due to self intersecting faces.
To avoid this problem, make sure the first and last point have their profile set to 0.
1988-2014 eyeon software - www.eyeonline.com [3Txt] 54

3D Tools
[3Txt] 3D Tools
Text 3D
Shading
Opacity
Reducing the material's Opacity will decrease the color and alpha values of the specular and diffuse colors equally,
making the material transparent and allowing hidden objects to be seen through the material.
Use One Material

Deselecting this option will reveal a second set of material controls for the beveled edge of the text.
Material
Type
To use a solid color texture select the Solid mode. Selecting the Image mode will reveal a new external input on the
tools tile that can be connected to another 2D image.
Specular Color
Specular Color determines the color of light that reflects from a shiny surface. The more specular a material is, the
glossier it appears. Surfaces like plastics and glass tend to have white specular highlights, whereas metallic surfaces like
gold have specular highlights that tend to inherit their color from the material color. The basic shader material does
not provide an input for textures to control the specularity of the object. Use tools from the 3D Material category when
more precise control is required over the specular appearance.
Specular Intensity
Specular Intensity controls how strong the specular highlight is. If the specular intensity texture port has a valid input,
then this value is multiplied by the alpha value of the input.
Specular Exponent
Specular Exponent controls the falloff of the specular highlight. The greater the value, the sharper the falloff, and the
smoother and glossier the material appears. The basic shader material does not provide an input for textures to control
the specular exponent of the object. Use tools from the 3D Material category when more precise control is required
over the specular exponent.
Image Source
This control determines the source of the texture applied to the material. If the option is set to Tool then an input will
appear on the tool tile that can be used to apply the output of a 2D tool as the texture. Selecting Clip will expose a file
browser that can be used to select a image or image sequence from disk. The Brush option will provide a list of clips
found in the Fusion\Brushes folder.
Bevel Material
This reveal only appears when the Use One Material checkbox control is selected. The controls under this reveal are an
exact copy of the Material controls above, but are applied only to the beveled edge of the text.
Transform
These controls can be used to transform the material applied to the text. See the Text Plus tool for a complete descripti-
on of these tools.
Tips for Text3D

Character Level Styling
The Text 3D tool doesnt support Character Level Styling directly. You have to create a Text+ tool first and modify its
text field with a character level styling modifier. Then either connect the Text 3Ds text field to the modifier that is now
available or copy the Text+ tool and paste its settings to the Text 3D tool (right-click -> paste settings).
Uncapped 3D Text
To hide the front face of extruded text, uncheck Use One Material on the Shading tab and reduce the 1st materials
color to black including its alpha value.
-- mentioned by Jeff Krebs on the Laffey list
1988-2014 eyeon software - www.eyeonline.com Text 3D 55

3D Tools
[3Xf] 3D Tools
Transform 3D
Description:
The Transform 3D tool can be used to translate, rotate or scale all the elements within a scene without requiring a Merge 3D tool. This can be useful for hierarchical transformations, or for
offsetting objects that are merged into a scene multiple times.
Its controls are identical to those found in other 3D tools' Transformation tabs.
3D Transform Tab
Translation
X, Y, Z Offset
These controls can be used to position the 3D element.
Rotation
Rotation Order
Use these buttons to select the order is used to apply the Rotation along each axis of the object. For example, XYZ
would apply the rotation to the X axis first, followed by the Y axis and then followed by the Z axis.
X, Y, Z Rotation
Use these control to rotate the object around its pivot point. If the Use Target checkbox is selected then the rotation is
relative to the position of the target, otherwise the global axis is used.
Pivot Controls
X, Y, Z Pivot
A Pivot point is the point around which an object rotates. Normally, an object will rotate around its own center, which is
considered to be a pivot of 0,0,0. These controls can be used to offset the pivot from the center.
Scale
X, Y, Z Scale
If the Lock X/Y/Z checkbox is checked, a single Scale slider will be shown. This adjusts the overall size of the object. If
the Lock checkbox is unchecked, individual X, Y and Z sliders will be displayed to allow scaling in any dimension. Note If
the Lock checkbox is checked, scaling of individual dimensions is not possible, even when dragging specific axes of the
Transformation Widget in scale mode.
Use Target
Selecting the Use Target checkbox enables a set of controls for positioning an XYZ target. When target is enabled, the
object will always rotate to face the target. The rotation of the object becomes relative to the target.
Import Transform
Opens a file browser where you can select a scene file saved or exported by your 3d application. It supports the fol-
lowing file types:
*LightWave Scene - .lws

*Max Scene - .ase
*Maya Ascii Scene - .ma
*dotXSI - .xsi
The Import Transform button will only import transformation data. To 3d geometry, lights and cameras consider using
the
Doc_menu|File -> FBX Import
option from the menus.
1988-2014 eyeon software - www.eyeonline.com [3Xf] 56

3D Tools
[3Xf] 3D Tools
Transform 3D
On Screen Transformation Widget

Most of the controls in this tab are represented in the display view by a Transformation Widget with modes for trans-
formation, rotation and scaling. To change the mode of the widget, select one of the three buttons in the toolbar along
the side of the view. The modes can also be toggled using the keyboard shortcut q for translation, w for rotation and e
for scaling. In all three modes, individual axes of the control may be dragged to affect just that axis, or the center of the
control may be dragged to affect all three axes.
The scale sliders for most 3D tools defaults to locked, which causes uniform scaling of all three axis. Unlock the Lock
X/Y/Z Scale checkbox to scale an object on a single axis only.
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3D Tools
[3Tri] 3D Tools
Triangulate 3D
Description
This tool has no controls. It triangulates any quads or convex polygons.
1988-2014 eyeon software - www.eyeonline.com [3Tri] 58

3D Tools
[3UV] 3D Tools
UV Map 3D
Description:
The UV Map 3D tool replaces the UV texture coordinates on the geometry in the scene. These coordinates tell Fusion how to apply a texture to an object. The tool provides planar, cylindrical,
spherical, XYZ and Cubic mapping modes, which can be applied to basic Fusion primitives as well as imported geometry. The position, rotation and scale of the texture co-ordinates can be
adjusted to allow for fine control over the texture's appearance. An option is also provided to lock the UV produced by this tool to animated geometry according to a reference frame. This can
be used to ensure that textures applied to animated geometry do not slide.
While it is possible to adjust the global properties of the selected mapping mode, it is NOT possible to manipulate the UV coordinates of individual vertices directly from within Fusion. The
onscreen controls drawn in the display views are for reference only, and can not be manipulated by the artist.
External Inputs:
UVMap3D.SceneInput
UVMap3D.CameraInput
[ green, optional ] This input expects the output of the Camera 3D tool. It is only visible when the Camera map mode is used.
Camera projections with UV Map 3D

The camera mapping mode makes it possible to project texture coordinates onto geometry through a camera. Enable the Camera mapping mode on the UV
Map 3D tool. Directly connect the camera that will be used to create the UV coordinates to the new Camera input that appears on the UV Map 3D tools tile in
the flow.
Note that this does not directly project an image throught the camera. The image to be projected should be connected to the diffuse texture input of whatever
material is assigned to the objects. When the texture is applied it will use the UV coordinates created by the camera. Because this is a texture projection and not
light the alpha channel of the texture will correctly set the opacity of the geometry.
See the Camera 3D and Projector 3D tool for alternate approaches to projection.
The projection can optionally be locked to the vertices as it appears on a selected frame. This will fail if the number of vertices in the mesh change over time,
as Fusion must be able to match up the mesh at the reference time and the current time. To be more specific, vertices may not be created or destroyed or
reordered. For this reason projection locking does not work for many particle systems, for primitives with animated subdivisions, and with duplicate tools using
non-zero time offsets.
Controls Note
Map Mode The UV Map 3D tool does *not*
Defines how the texture coordinates are created. Think of it as a virtual geometry which projects the uv space on the put a texture or material on the
object. mesh, it only modifies the texture
coordinates that the materials will
Planar use. This can be kind of confusing
Creates the UV coordinates using a plane. because the material usually sits
upstream. For example a compositi-
Cylindrical on containing the tools
Creates the UV coordinates using a cylindrial shaped object. Doc_tool|Loader -> Blinn -> Shape
3D (cube) -> UV Map 3D -> Ren-
Spherical derer 3D
The UVs are created using a sphere.
XYZ to UVW
The position coordinates of the vertices are converted to UVW coordinates directly. This is used for working with proce-
dural textures.
CubeMap
The UVs are created using a Cube.
Camera
Enables the camera input port of the tool. After connecting a camera to it, the texture coordinates are created based on
camera projection.
Orientation X/Y/Z
Defines the reference axis for aligning the Map Mode.
Fit
Clicking this butten will fit the Map Mode to the bounding box of the input scene.
Center
Clicking this button will move the center of the Map Mode to the bounding box center of the input scene.
Lock UVs on Animated Objects

If the object is animated the UVs can be locked to it. Enabling this option will do so and also reveal the Ref Time slider
where it is possible to choose a reference frame for the UV mapping. Using this feature, it is not required to animate the
UVMap parameters. It is enough to set up the UV map at the reference time.
Size X/Y/Z
Defines the size of the projection object
Center X/Y/Z
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3D Tools
[3UV] 3D Tools
UV Map 3D
Defines the position of the projection object
Rotation/ Rotation Order Order

Use these buttons to select which order is used to apply the Rotation along each axis of the object. For example, XYZ
would apply the rotation to the X axis first, followed by the Y axis and then followed by the Z axis.
Rotation X/Y/Z
Sets the orientation of the projection object for each axis, dependent from the rotation order.
Tile U/V/W
Defines how often a texture fits into the projected uv space on the according axis. Note that the uvw coordinates are
transformed not a texture. Works best when used in conjunction with the Create Texture tool.
Flip U/V/W
Mirrors the texture coordinates around the according axis.
Flip Faces (CubeMap mode only)

Mirrors the texture coordinates on the individual faces of the cube.
Note
To utilize the full capabilities of the UV Map 3D tool it helps to have a basic understanding of how 2D images are map-
ped onto 3D geometry. When a 2D image is applied to a 3D surface, it is converted into a texture map which uses UV
coordinates to determine how the image translates to the object. Each vertex on a mesh has a (u, v) texture coordinate
pair which describes the appearance the object will take when it is unwrapped and flattened. Different mapping modes
use different methods for working out how the vertices transform into a flat 2D texture.When using the UV Map 3D
tool to modify the texture co-ordinates on a mesh it is best to do so using the default coordinate system of the mesh
or primitive. So the typical workflow would look like Shape 3D -> UV Map 3D -> Transform 3D. The transformation tab
on the shape tool would be left to it's default values, and the Transform 3D tool following the UV Map 3D does any
adjustments needed to place the tool in the scene. Modifying/animating the transform of the Shape tool will cause the
texture to slide across the shape, which is generally undesirable.The UV Map 3D tool modifies texture coordinates per
vertex and not per pixel. If the geometry the UV map is applied to is poorly tesselated, then undesirable artifacts may
appear.
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3D Tools
[3We] 3D Tools
Weld 3D
Description:
Sometimes 3D geometry has vertices that should have been joined but havent. This can cause artifacts especially when when the two vertices have different normals.
For example
The different normals will produce a hard shading/lighting edge where none was intended
If you try to Displace3D the vertices along their normals, a crack will appear
Missing pixels or doubled up pixels in the rendered image
Particles to pass through the tiny invisible cracks
Rather than roundtripping back to your 3D modeling application to fix the duplicated vertices, the Weld3D tool allows you to do this in Fusion.
Weld3D welds together vertices with the same or nearly the same positions. This can be used to fix cracking issues when vertices are displaced by welding the geometry before the
displace. There are no user controls to pick vertices.
Currently this tool welds together just position vertices, it does not weld normals, texcoords, or any other vertex stream. So even though the two positions of two vertices has been
made the same, theyre normals will still have their old values. This can lead to hard edges in certain situations.
Controls
Weld
Fracture
Fracturing is the opposite of welding, so All vertices are unwelded. This means that all polygon adjacency information is
lost. For example, an ImagePlane3D normally consists of connected quads that share vertices. Fracturing the imageplane
causes it to become a bunch of unconnected quads.
Tolerance
In Auto-Mode the tolerance value is automatically detected. This should work in most cases.
It can also be adjusted manually if needed.
Usage:
Use Weld3D when issues occur with the geometry.
Dont use it everywhere just because its there, as it will influence render time.
Weld3D is intended to be used as a mesh robustness tool and not as a mesh editing tool to merge together vertices.
If you can see the gap between the vertices you want to weld in the 3D view, you are probably misusing Weld3D.
Unexpected things may happen when you do this - do so at your own peril.
Current Issues:
Setting the tolerance too large can cause edges/faces to collapse to points.
If your model has detail distributed over several orders of scale picking a tolerance value can be hard or impossible.
For example, suppose you have a model of the ISS and there are lots of big polygons and lots of really tiny polgyons. If you set the tolerance too large, small polygons will be
merged that shouldnt, if you set the tolerance too small, some large polgyons wont be merged.
Vertices that are far from the origin can fail to be merged correctly. This is because bigNumber + epsilon can exactly equal bigNumber in float math. This is one reason it may
be best to merge in local coords and not in world coords.
Sometimes Weld3-ing a mesh can make things worse.

Take Fusions Cone as an example. The top vertex of the cone is currently duplicated for each adjoining face and they all have different normals.
If you weld the cone, the top vertices will merge together and will only have one normal, making the lighting look weird.
Weld3D is not multithreaded, nor is it likely to be so in the near future.
Gotcha:
Do not misuse Weld3D to simplify (reduce the polgyon count of) meshes.
It is designed to efficiently weld vertices that differ by only very small values, like a 0.001 distance. If you try setting the tolerance too high you get what you deserve for misu-
sing it.
1988-2014 eyeon software - www.eyeonline.com [3We] 61

3D Light Tools
Ambient Light Directional Light Point Light Spot Light

3D Tools
[3Am] 3D Light Tools
Ambient Light
Description:
An Ambient Light is a directionless light that globally illuminates a scene. It has no real position or rotation, although an onscreen widget will appear in the views to indicate that a light is
present in the scene. Position controls for the widget are provided to make it possible to move the widget out of the way of other geometry, if necessary.
External Inputs:
AmbientLight.SceneInput
[ orange, optional ] This input expects 3D scene. If a scene is provided the transform controls in this tool will apply to the entire scene provided.
Controls Tab
Enabled
When the Enabled checkbox is selected, the ambient light affects the scene. Clear the checkbox to turn off the light.
Color
Use this standard Color control to set the color of the light.
Intensity
Use this slider to set the Intensity of the ambient light. A value of .2 indicates 20% percent light. A perfectly white tex-
ture lit only with a .2 ambient light would render at 20% grey (.2, .2, .2)
Transform Tab
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3D Tools
[3DL] 3D Light Tools
Directional Light
Description:
A Directional Light is a light with a clear direction but without a clear source. This light shows an onscreen widget, but the position of the widget has no meaning. The rotation of the widget is
used to determine from where in the scene the light appears to be coming.
External Inputs:
DirectionalLight.SceneInput
Control Tab
This tab contains all parameters for the tool
Enabled
When the Enabled checkbox is selected, the directional light affects the scene. Clear the checkbox to turn off the light.
Color
Intensity
Use this slider to set the Intensity of the ambient light. A value of .2 indicates 20% percent light.
Transform Tab
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3D Tools
[3PL] 3D Light Tools
Point Light
Description:
A Point Light is a light source with a clear position in space that emits light in all directions. A lightbulb is a point light, as is the sun, although light from the sun can appear to be ambient due
to scattering from the atmosphere.
This light shows an onscreen widget, although only the position of the widget affects the light. Since the light is a 360 degree source the rotation of the widget has no meaning. Unlike both
ambient and directional lights, a point light may falloff with distance.
External Inputs:
PointLight.SceneInput
Controls Tab
Enabled
When the Enabled checkbox is selected, the point light affects the scene. Clear the checkbox to turn off the light.
Color
Intensity
Use this slider to set the Intensity of the ambient light. A value of .2 indicates 20% percent light.
Decay Type
A point light defaults to No Decay, meaning that its light has equal intensity at all points in the scene. To cause the
intensity to falloff with distance, set the Decay Type either to Linear or Quadratic modes.
Transform Tab
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3D Tools
[3SL] 3D Light Tools
Spot Light
Description:
A Spotlight is a light that comes from a specific point and that has a clearly defined cone, with falloff of the light to the edges. Experienced stage and theatre lighting technicians will recognize
the spotlight as being very similar to standard luminaires that are used in live productions. This is the only type of light currently capable of casting shadows.
External Inputs:
SpotLight.SceneInput
Controls
Enabled
When this checkbox is selected the spotlight light affects the scene. Clear the checkbox to turn off the light.
Color
Use this standard color control to set the color of the light.
Intensity
Use this slider to set the intensity of the spotlight.
Decay Type
A spotlight defaults to No Falloff, meaning that its light has equal intensity on geometry regardless of the distance from
the light to the geometry. To cause the intensity to falloff with distance, set the Decay type either to Linear, or Quadratic
modes.
Cone Angle
The Cone angle of the light refers to the width of the cone where the light emits its full intensity. The larger the angle
the wider the cone angle, up to a limit of 90 degrees.
Penumbra Angle
The penumbra angle determines the area beyond the cone angle where the light's intensity falls off towards 0. A larger
penumbra angle defines a larger falloff, while a value of 0 generates a hard edged light.
Dropoff
The dropoff controls how quickly the penumbra angle falls off from full intensity to 0.
Shadows
This section provides several controls used to define the shadowmap used when this spotlight creates shadows. See the
Lights and Shadows chapter for details.
Enable Shadows
The Enable Shadows checkbox should be selected if the light is to produce shadows. This defaults to selected.
Shadow Color
Use this standard Color control to set the color of the shadow. This defaults to black (0, 0, 0).
Density
The shadow Density determines how opaque the shadow will be. A density of 1.0 will produce a completely transparent
shadow, whereas lower values make the shadow transparent.
Shadow Map Size

The Shadow Map Size control determines the size of the bitmap used to create the shadow map. Larger values will
produce more detailed shadow maps at the expense of memory and performance.
Shadow Map Proxy

Shadow Map Proxy determines the size of the shadow map used for when the Proxy or Auto Proxy modes are enabled.
A value of 0.5 would produce a shadow map at half the resolution defined in the Shadow Map Size.
Multiplicative/Additive Bias
Shadows are essentially textures applied to objects in the scene so there will occasionally be z-fighting, where the
portions of the object that should be recieving the shadows render over top of the shadow instead. Biasing works by
adding a small depth offset to move the shadow away from the surface it is shadowing, eliminating the z-fighting. Too
little bias and the objects can self-shadow themselves. Too much bias and the shadow can become separated from the
surface. Make adjustments to the Multiplicative Bias first, then fine tune the result using the Additive Bias control.
See the Multiplicative And Additive Bias section of the 3D chapter for examples and more information.
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3D Tools
[3SL] 3D Light Tools
Spot Light
Controls (ctd)
Force All Materials Non-Transmissive
Normally, a RGBAZ shadowmap is used when rendering shadows. By enabling this option you are forcing the renderer
to use a Z only shadowmap. This can result in significantly faster shadow rendering while using a fifth as much memory.
The disadvantage is that you can no longer cast 'stained-glass' like shadows.
Shadow Map Sampling

Sets the quality for sampling of the shadow map (WIP-note Ask STephen)
Softness
Soft edges in shadows are produced by filtering the shadowmap when it is sampled. Fusion has three separate filtering
methods available when rendering shadows which produce different effects.
None
Shadows will have a hard edge. No filtering of the shadowmap is done at all. The advantage of this method is that you
only have to sample one pixel in the shadowmap so it is fast.
Constant
Shadows edges will have a constant softness. A filter with a constant width is used when sampling the shadowmap.
The size of the filter is controlled by adjusting the Constant Softness slider. Note that the larger you make the filter, the
longer that it will take to render the shadows.
Variable
The softness of shadow edges will grow the further away the shadow receiver is from the shadow caster. The variable
softness is achieved by changing the size of the filter based on the distance between the receiver and caster. When this
option is selected, the Softness Falloff, Min Softness and Max Softness sliders appear.
Constant Softness
If the Softness is set to constant, then this slider will appear. It can be used to set the overall softness of the shadow.
Softness Falloff
The Softness Falloff slider appears when the Softness is set to variable. This slider controls how fast the softness of
shadow edges grows with distance. To be more precise, it controls how fast the shadowmap filter size grows based
upon the distance between shadow caster and receiver. Its affect is mediated by the values of the min and max softness
sliders.
Min Softness
The Min Softness slider appears when the Softness is set to variable. This slider controls the Minimum Softness of the
shadow. The closer the shadow is to the object casting the shadow, the sharper it will be up to the limit set by this
slider.
Max Softness
The Max Softness slider appears when the Softness is set to variable. This slider controls the Maximum Softness of the
shadow. The further the shadow is from the object casting the shadow, the softer it will be up to the limit set by this
slider.
Transform Tab
1988-2014 eyeon software - www.eyeonline.com [3SL] 67

3D Material Tools
Blinn Channel Boolean Material Cook Torrance Mtl Merge 3D Phong
Reflect Stereo Mix Ward

3D Materials
[3Bl] 3D Material Tools
Blinn
Description:
The Blinn tool is a basic illumination material which can be applied to geometry in the 3D scene. It describes how the object will respond to light, and provides a large number of texture map
inputs to allow fine control over the diffuse, specular and bumpmap components of the material.
The standard basic material provided in the Material tab of most geometry tools is a simplified version of the Blinn tool. The primary difference is that the Blinn tool provides additional texture
map inputs beyond just diffuse.
The Blinn tool outputs a 3D Material which can be connected to the material inputs on any 3D geometry tool.
The Blinn model implemented by Fusion calculates the highlight as the dot product of the surface normal and the half angle vector between lightsource and viewer (dot(N, H)). This may not always
match the Blinn model illumination model used by other 3D applications. For a technical description of the Blinn shader see http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blinn
External Inputs:
Blinn.DiffuseTex
[ orange, optional ] This input will accept a 2D image or a 3D material to be used as a diffuse texture map.
Blinn.SpecularColorTex
[ green, optional ] This input will accept a 2D image or a 3D material to be used as a specular color texture map.
Blinn.SpecularIntensityTex
[ magenta, optional ] This input will accept a 2D image or a 3D material to be used as an intensity map for the materials specular highlights. When the input is a 2D image the alpha channel is used
to create the map while the color channels are discarded.
Blinn.SpecularExponentTex
[ light blue, optional ] This input will accept a 2D image or a 3D material to be used as an falloff map for the materials specular highlights. When the input is a 2D image the alpha channel is used
Blinn.BumpmapTex
[ white, optional ]This input will accept a 2D image or a 3D material then uses the RGB information as texture-space normals.
Each of these inputs multiplies the pixels in the texture map by the equivalently named parameters in the tool itself. This provides an effective method for scaling parts of the material.
When tools have as many inputs as this one does it is often difficult to make connections with any precision. Hold the
Doc_key|ALT
key down while dragging the output from another tool over the tool tile, and keep holding ALT when releasing the left mouse button. A small menu listing all of the inputs provided by the tool
will appear. Click on the desired input to complete the connection.
Alternately you can drag the output from a tool with the right mouse button to activate the same menu.
Controls
Diffuse
Diffuse describes the base surface characteristics without any additional effects like reflections or specular highlights. In
addition to defining the base color of an object, the diffuse color also defines the transparency of the object. The alpha
in a diffuse texture map can be used to make portions of the surface of any object the material is applied to transpa-
rent.
Diffuse Color
A materials diffuse color describes the base color presented by the material when it is lit indirectly or by ambient light.
If a diffuse texture map is provided then the color value provided here is multiplied by the color values in the texture.
Alpha
This slider sets the material's Alpha channel value. This affects diffuse and specular colors equally, and affects the alpha
value of the material in the rendered output. If a diffuse texture map is provided then the alpha value set here is multi-
plied by the alpha values in the texture map.
Opacity
making the material transparent.
Specular
The parameters in the Specular section describes the look of the specular highlight of the surface. These values are
evaluated in a different way for each illumination model. See the Notes for more details.
Specular Color
gold have specular highlights that inherit their color from the material color. If a specular texture map is provided then
the value provided here is multiplied by the color values from the texture.
Specular Intensity
Specular Intensity controls how strong the specular highlight is. If the specular intensity texture is provided then this
value is multiplied by the alpha value of the texture.
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3D Materials
[3Bl] 3D Material Tools
Blinn
Specular Exponent
smoother and glossier the material appears. If the specular exponent texture is provided then this value is multiplied by
the alpha value of the texture map.
Transmittance
Transmittance controls the way light passes through a material. For example, a solid blue sphere will cast a black sha-
dow, but one made of translucent blue plastic would cast a much lower density blue shadow.
There is a separate opacity option. Opacity determines how transparent the actual surface is when it is rendered. Fusion
allows for adjusting both opacity and transmittance separately. This might be a bit counter-intuitive to artists who are
unfamiliar with 3D software at first. It is possible to have a surface that is fully opaque but transmits 100% of the light
arriving upon it, effectively making it a a luminous / emissive surface.
Attenuation
Attenuation determines how much color is passed through the object. For an object to have transmissive shadows, set
the attenuation to (1, 1, 1), which means 100% of green, blue, red light pass through the object. Setting this color to
RGB (1, 0, 0) means that the material will transmit 100% of the red arriving at the surface but none of the green or blue
light. This allows for 'stained glass' shadows.
Alpha Detail
When the Alpha Detail slider is set to 0, the alpha channel of the object is ignored and the entire object casts a shadow.
If it is set to 1, the alpha channel detemines what portions of the object cast a shadow.
Color Detail
The Color Detail slider modulates light passing through the surface by the diffuse color + texture colors. Use this to
throw a shadow that contains color details of the texture applied to the object. Increasing the slider from 0 to 1 brings
in more of diffuse color + texture color into the shadow. Note that the alpha and opacity of the object is ignored when
transmitting color, allowing an object with a solid alpha to still transmit its color to the shadow.
Saturation
The Saturation slider controls the saturation of the color component transmitted to the shadow. Setting this to 0.0 will
result in monochrome shadows.
Receives Lighting/Shadows
These checkboxes control whether the material is affected by lighting and shadows in the scene. If turned off, the object
will always be fully lit and/or unshadowed.
Two Sided Lighting

This makes the surface effectively two-sided by adding a second set of normals facing the opposite direction on the
back side of the surface. This is normally off, to increase rendering speed, but can be turned on for 2D surfaces or for
objects that are not fully enclosed, to allow the reverse or interior surfaces to be visible as well.
Normally, in a 3D application only the front face of a surface is visible and the back face is culled, so that if a camera
were to revolve around a plane in a 3D application when it reached the backside, the plane would become invisible.
Making a plane two sided in a 3D application is equivalent to adding another plane on top of the first but rotated by
180 degrees so the normals are facing the opposite direction on the backside. Thus, when you revolve around the back,
you see the second image plane which has its normals facing the opposite way.
Fusion does exactly the same thing as 3D applications when you make a surface two sided. The confusion about what two-sided does
arises because Fusion does not cull backfacing polygons by default. If you revolve around a one-sided plane in Fusion you will still
see it from the backside (but you are seeing the frontside bits duplicated through to the backside as if it were transparent). Making the
plane two sided effectively adds a second set of normals to the backside of the plane.
Note this can become rather confusing once you make the surface transparent, as the same rules still apply and produce a result which
is counter-intuitive. If you view from the frontside a transparent two-sided surface illuminated from the backside, it will look unlit.
Material ID
This slider sets the numeric identifier assigned to this material. This value will be rendered into the MatID auxiliary
channel if the according option is enabled in the renderer.
1988-2014 eyeon software - www.eyeonline.com Blinn 70

3D Materials
[3Bol] 3D Material Tools
Channel Boolean Material
Description:
The Channel Boolean Material can be used to remap and modify channels of 3D materials using mathematical operations. For example if you want to use the red channel of a material to control an
scalar input of an illumination model which uses the alpha channel (eg. Blinn.SpecularExponent) you can remap the channels here. Furthermore it allows to use geometry specific information like
texture space coordinates and normals.
External Inputs:
ChannelBooleanMaterial.BackgroundMaterial
[ orange, optional ] This input will accept a 2D image or a 3D material.
ChannelBooleanMaterial.ForegroundMaterial
[ green, optional ] This input will accept a 2D image or a 3D material.
Controls
Operand A/B
The Operand menus, one for each output RGBA channel, allows to set the desired input information for the according
channel.
Red/Green/Blue/Alpha/ FG
Reads the color information of the foreground material.
Red/Green/Blue/Alpha BG
Reads the color information of the background material.
Black/White/Mid Grey
Sets the value of the channel to 0, 1 or 0.5.
Hue/Lightness/Saturation FG
Reads the color information of the foreground material, converts it into the HLS color space and put the selected infor-
mation into the according channel
Hue/Lightness/Saturation BG
Reads the color information of the background material, converts it into the HLS color space and put the selected infor-
mation into the according channel
Luminance FG
Reads the color information of the foreground material and calculates the luminance value for the channel.
Luminance BG
Reads the color information of the background material and calculates the luminance value for the channel.
X/Y/Z Position FG
Sets the value of the channel to the position of the pixel in 3d space. The vector information is returned in eye space.
U/V/W Texture FG
Applies the texture space coordinates of the foreground material to the channels.
U/V/W EnvCoords FG
Applies the environment texture space coordinates to the channels. Use it upstream of tools modifying the environ-
ment texture coordinates like the Reflect 3D tool.
X/Y/Z Normal
Set the value of the channel to the selected axis of the normal vector. The vector is returned in eye space.
Operation
Determines the operation how the operands are combined.
A
Uses operand A only for the output channel
B
Uses operand B only for the output channel
1-A
Subtracts the value of Operand A from 1
1-B
Subtracts the value of Operand B from 1
A+B
Adds the value of operand A and B
A-B
Subtracts the value of operand B from A
A*B
Mulitplies the value of both operands
A/B
Divides the value of operand B from A
min(A,B)
Compares the values of operand A and B and returns the smaller one
max(A,B)
Compares the values of operand A and B and returns the bigger one
avg(A,B)
Returns the average value of both operands
Material ID
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3D Materials
[3CT] 3D Material Tools
Cook Torrance
Description:
The Cook Torrance tool is a basic illumination material which can be applied to geometry in the 3D scene. The diffuse calculation for this tool is similar to that used in the basic material and the
Blinn tool, but the specular highlights are evaluated using an optimized Fresnel/Beckmann equation. This illumination model is primarily used for shading metal or other shiny and highly reflective
surfaces.
The Cook Torrance tool outputs a 3D Material which can be connected to the material inputs on any 3D geometry tool.
For a technical description of the Cook Torrance shader see http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Specular_highlight

External Inputs:
CookTorrance.DiffuseTex
CookTorrance.SpecularColorTex
CookTorrance.SpecularIntensityTex
[ magenta, optional] This input will accept a 2D image or a 3D material to be used as an intensity map for the materials specular highlights. When the input is a 2D image the alpha channel is used
CookTorrance.SpecularRoughnessTex
[ light blue, optional ] This input will accept a 2D image or a 3D material to be used as a map for modifying the roughness of the specular highlight. The alpha of the texture map is multiplied by
the value of the roughness control.
CookTorrance.SpecularRefractiveIndexTex
[ white, optional ] This input will accept a 2D image or a 3D material to be used as a map for modifying the roughness of the specular refractive index. The alpha of the texture map is multiplied by
the value of the refractive index.
CookTorrance.BumpmapTex
[ white, optional ] This input will accept a 2D image or a 3D material then uses the RGB information as texture-space normals.
When tools have as many inputs as this one does it is often difficult to make connections any precision. Hold the CTRL key down while dragging the output from another tool over the tool tile, and
keep holding CTRL when releasing the left mouse button. A small menu listing all of the inputs provided by the tool will appear. Click on the desired input to complete the connection.
Controls
Diffuse
rent.
Diffuse Color
Alpha
Opacity
Specular
Specular Color
Specular Intensity
Roughness
The Roughness of the specular highlight describes diffusion of the specular highlight over the surface. The greater the
value, the wider the falloff, and the more brushed and metallic the surface appears. If the roughness texture map is
1988-2014 eyeon software - www.eyeonline.com Cook[3CT]

Torrance 72
3D Materials
[3CT] 3D Material Tools
Cook Torrance
provided then this value is multiplied by the alpha value from the texture.
Do Fresnel
Selecting this checkbox will add fresnel calculations to the materials illumination model. This will provide more realistic
looking metal surfaces by taking into account the refractiveness of the material. See http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fres-
nel_equations for a more technical discussion.
Refractive Index
This slider appears when the Do Fresnel checkbox is selected. The refractive index applies only to the calculations for
the highlight, it does not perform actual refraction of light through transparent surfaces. If the refractive index texture
map is provided then this value is multiplied by the alpha value of the input.
Transmittance
Attenuation
Alpha Detail
Color Detail
Saturation
Two Sided Lighting

Material ID
1988-2014 eyeon software - www.eyeonline.com Cook Torrance 73

3D Materials
[3MM] 3D Material Tools
Mtl Merge 3D
Description:
The Material Merge tool can be used to combine two separate materials together. This tool can be used to composite material tools, combining multiple illumination materials (Blinn, Cook Tor-
rance) with texture tools (Bumpmap, Reflection) to create complex shader networks.
The tool also provides a mechanism for assigning a new material identifier to the combined material.
External Inputs:
MtlMerge3D.BackgroundMaterial
[ orange, required ] This input will accept a 2D image or a 3D material to be used as the background material. A 2D image will be treated as a diffuse texture map in the basic shading model.
MtlMerge3D.ForegroundMaterial
[ green, optional ] This input will accept a 2D image or a 3D material to be used as the foreground material. A 2D image will be treated as a diffuse texture map in the basic shading model.
Controls
Blend
The Blend behavior of the Material Merge is similar to the Dissolve (DX) tool for images. The two materials/textures are
mixed together using the value of the slider to determine the percentage each input contributes. While the background
and foreground inputs can be a 2D image rather than a material, the output of this tool will always be a material.
Unlike the 2D Dissolve tool both foreground and background inputs are required.
MaterialID
This slider sets the numeric identifier assigned to the resulting material. This value will be rendered into the MatID auxi-
liary channel if the according option is enabled in the renderer.
1988-2014 eyeon software - www.eyeonline.com [3MM] 74

3D Materials
[3Ph] 3D Material Tools
Phong
Description:
The Phong tool is a basic illumination material which can be applied to geometry in the 3D scene. It describes how the object will respond to light, and provides a large number of texture map
While producing a highlight similar to that produced by the Blinn model, it is more commonly used for shiny/polished plastic surfaces. A more technical description of the Phong shader can be
found at http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phong_shading
External Inputs:
Phong.DiffuseTex
Phong.SpecularColorTex
Phong.SpecularIntensityTex
Phong.SpecularExponentTex
[ light blue, optional ] This input will accept a 2D image or a 3D material to be used as an falloff map for the materials specular highlights. When the input is a 2D image the alpha channel is used
Phong.BumpmapTex
When tools have as many inputs as this one does it is often difficult to make connections any precision. Hold the
Doc_key|CTRL
key down while dragging the output from another tool over the tool tile, and keep holding CTRL when releasing the left mouse button. A small menu listing all of the inputs provided by the tool
will appear. Click on the desired input to complete the connection.
Controls
Diffuse
rent.
Diffuse Color
Alpha
Opacity
Specular
Specular Color
Specular Intensity
Specular Exponent
smoother and glossier the material appears. If the specular exponent texture is provided then this value is multiplied by
the alpha value of the texture map.
1988-2014 eyeon software - www.eyeonline.com [3Ph] 75

3D Materials
[3Ph] 3D Material Tools
Phong
Transmittance
Attenuation
Alpha Detail
Color Detail
Saturation
Two Sided Lighting

Material ID
1988-2014 eyeon software - www.eyeonline.com Phong 76

3D Materials
[3RR] 3D Material Tools Top
Reflect
Description:
The reflection tool is used to add environment map reflections and refractions to materials. Control is offered over the face on and glancing strength, falloff, per channel refraction indexes and
tinting. Several texture map inputs can modify the behaviour of each parameter.
The Reflection tool is usually combined with a standard lighting material such as Blinn, Cook Torrance, Phong or Ward by connecting the output of that tool to the Reflection tools background
material input. Then a reflection texture is connected to the reflection texture input. This can be a 2D image, but is more frequently an environmental map created by the SphereMap or CubeMap
tools.
Environment mapping is an approximation which assumes that an objects environment is infinitely distant from the object. It's best to picture this as a cube or sphere with the object at the center. In particular, this infinite
distance assumption means that objects can not interact with themselves - eg. the reflections on the handle of a teapot will not show the body of the teapot but rather the infinite environment map. It also means that if
you use the same cubemap on multiple objects in the scene, those objects will not inter-reflect each other - eg. two neighboring object would not reflect each other. If you want objects to reflect each other you need to
render a cubemap for each.
For more information see Reflections and Refractions in this manual.

External Inputs:
Reflect.BackgroundMaterial
[ orange, optional ] This input expects a 2D image or a 3D material. If a 2D image is provided the tool will treat it as a diffuse texture map applied to a basic material.
Reflect.Reflection.ReflectionTex
[ green, optional ] This input expects a 2D image or a 3D material. The RGB channels are used as the reflection texture, and the alpha is ignored.
Reflect.Reflection.ReflectionIntensityTex
[ magenta, optional ] This input expects a 2D image or a 3D material. The alpha channel of the texture is multiplied by the intensity of the reflection.
Reflect.Refraction.RefractionTex
[ light blue, optional ] This input expects a 2D image or a 3D material. The RGB channels are used as the refraction texture.
Reflect.BumpmapTex
Controls
Reflection
Reflection Strength Variability
This multibutton control can be set to Constant or By Angle for varying the reflection intensity according to the relative
surface orientation to the viewer. The following three controls are only visible when this control is set to By Angle.
Glancing Strength
[ By Angle ] The Glancing Strength controls the intensity of the reflection for those areas of the geometry where the
reflection faces away from the camera.
Face On Strength
[ By Angle ] The Face On Strength controls the intensity of the reflection for those parts of the geometry that reflect
directly back to the camera.
Falloff
[ By Angle ] The Falloff controls the sharpness of the transition between the Glancing and Face On Strength regions.
It can be considered to be analogous to applying gamma correction to a gradient between the Face On and Glancing
values.
Constant Strength
[ Constant Angle ]This control is only visible when the reflection strength variability is set to Constant. In this case the
intensity of the reflection is constant regardless of the incidence angle of the reflection.
Refraction
If the incoming background material has a lower opacity than 1, then it is possible to use an environment map as re-
fraction texture. So it is possible to simulate refraction effects in transparent objects.
Separate RGB Refraction Indices

When this checkbox is enabled the Refraction Index slider will be be hidden and three sliders for adjusting the refrac-
tion index of the Red, Green and Blue channels will appear in it's place. This allows for simulation of the spectral refrac-
tion effects commonly seen in thick imperfect glass, for example.
Refraction Index
This slider controls how strongly the environment map will be deformed when viewed through a surface. The overall
deformation is based on the incidence angle. Since this is a approximation and not a simulation the results are not
intended to accurately model real refractions.
Refraction Tint
The refraction texture is multiplied by the tint color for simulating color filtered refractions. It can be used to simulate
the type of coloring found in tinted glass, as seen in many brands of beer bottles, for example.
1988-2014 eyeon software - www.eyeonline.com [3RR] 77

3D Materials
[3SMM] 3D Material Tools
Stereo Mix
Description:
External Inputs:
StereoMix.LeftMaterial
[ orange, required ] This input will accept a 2D image or a 3D material to be used as the material for the left eye rendering. If a 2D image is used it will be con-
verted to a diffuse texture map using the basic material type.
StereoMix.RightMaterial
[ green, required ] This input will accept a 2D image or a 3D material to be used as the material for the right eye rendering. If a 2D image is used it will be con-
verted to a diffuse texture map using the basic material type.
While the inputs can be either 2D images or 3D materials, the output will always be a material.
Controls
Swap
This option will swap the both inputs of the tool.
Material ID
1988-2014 eyeon software - www.eyeonline.com [3SMM] 78

3D Materials
[3Wd] 3D Material Tools
Ward
Description:
The Ward tool is a basic illumination material which can be applied to geometry in the 3D scene. It describes how the object will respond to light, and provides a large number of texture map
In particular the Ward tool is ideal for simulating brushed metal surfaces, as the highlight can be elongated in along the U or V directions of the mapping co-ordinates. This is known as an aniso-
trophic highlight.
See http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Specular_highlight for a more technical description of the Ward anisotrophic shader.
The Ward tool outputs a 3D Material which can be connected to the material inputs on any 3D geometry tool.
External Inputs:
Ward.DiffuseTexture
[ orange, optional ] This input will accept a 2D image or a 3D material to be used as a specular color texture map.
Ward.SpecularColorTexture
Ward.SpecularIntensityTexture
Ward.SpreadUTexture
[ light blue, optional ] This input will accept a 2D image or a 3D material. The value of the Spread U option in the tools controls will be multiplied against the pixel values in the material's alpha
channel.
Ward.SpreadVTexture
[ white, optional ] This input will accept a 2D image or a 3D material. The value of the Spread V option in the tools controls will be multiplied against the pixel values in the material's alpha channel.
Ward.BumpmapTexture
[ white, optional ]This input will accept a 2D image or a 3D material then uses the RGB information as texture-space normals.
When tools have as many inputs as this one does it is often difficult to make connections any precision. Hold the CTRL key down while dragging the output from another tool over the tool tile, and
keep holding CTRL when releasing the left mouse button. A small menu listing all of the inputs provided by the tool will appear. Click on the desired input to complete the connection.
Controls
Diffuse
rent.
Diffuse Color
Alpha
Opacity
Specular
Specular Color
Specular Intensity
Spread U
Spread U controls the falloff of the specular highlight along the U-axis in the UV-Map of the object. The smaller the va-
lue, the sharper the falloff, and the smoother and glossier the material appears in this direction. If the spread u texture
1988-2014 eyeon software - www.eyeonline.com [3Wd] 79

3D Materials
[3Wd] 3D Material Tools
Ward
is provided then this value is multiplied by the alpha value of the texture.
Spread V
Spread V controls the falloff of the specular highlight along the V-axis in the UV-Map of the object. The smaller the va-
lue, the sharper the falloff, and the smoother and glossier the material appears in this direction. If the spread v texture is
provided then this value is multiplied by the alpha value of the texture.
Transmittance
Attenuation
Alpha Detail
Color Detail
Saturation
Two Sided Lighting

Material ID
1988-2014 eyeon software - www.eyeonline.com Ward 80

3D Texture Tools
BumpMap Catcher CubeMap Falloff Fast Noise Texture
Gradient 3D Sphere Map Texture Texture Transform

3D Tools
[3Bu] 3D Texture Tools
BumpMap
Description:
The Bumpmap tool either converts an greyscale (heightmap) image into a bump map or takes a bumpmap created by the Create Bumpmap tool directly. The tool outputs a material.
External Inputs:
Bumpmap.ImageInput (white): Receives the RGBA channels from an image for the bump calculation or an existing BumpMap.
Controls
The Source Image is a...

Toggle between Heightmap, which will create a bumpmap similar to the CreateBumpmap tool, and BumpMap, which
expects a bumpmap created by the CreateBumpmap tool.
Filter Size
The process of generating the bump information is basically a Custom Filter. This multibutton control sets the filter size.
Extract height information from...

Set the channel from where to extract the greyscale information from.
Clamp Normal.Z
Clips the lower values of blue channel in the resulting bump texture.
Filter Wrap Mode

Basically "wraps" the image at the borders, so the filter produces correct result when using seamless tileable textures.
Height Scale
Changes the contrast of the resulting values in the bump map. Increasing this value yields in a more visible bump map.
Bumpmap Texture Depth

Optionaly converts the resulting bump texture into the desired bit depth.
Notes on Bumpmaps
There is some confusion of terminology with bumpmapping depending which papers/books/people you are reading/tal-
king to. This can cause confusion for artists. Here are Fusion conventions:
Heightmap
An greyscale image containing a height value per pixel
Bumpmap
An image containing normals stored in the RGB channels used for modifying the existing normals (usually given in tan-
gent space)
Normalmap
An image containing normals stored in the RGB channels used for replacing the existing normals (usually given in tangent
or object space)
1988-2014 eyeon software - www.eyeonline.com [3Bu] 82

3D Tools
[3Ca] 3D Texture Tools
Catcher
Description:
The Catcher material is used to catch texture-mode projections cast from Projector 3D and Camera 3D tools. The intercepted projections are converted into a texture map and applied by the
Catcher material to the geometry it is connected to.
To understand the purpose of the Catcher tool it helps to understand the difference between light based projections and texture based projections. A light based projection simply adds the values
of the RGB channels in the projected image to the diffuse texture of any geometry that lies within the projection cone. This makes it impossible to clip away geometry based on the alpha channel
of an image when using light mode projections.
Imagine a scenario where the artist wishes to project an image of a building onto an image plane as part of a set extension shot. The artist has first rotoscoped the image to matte out the win-
dows. This will make it possible to see geometry of the rooms behind the wall in the final composite. When this image is projected as light, the alpha channel is ignored, so the matted windows
remain opaque.
By connecting the Catcher to the diffuse texture map of the material applied to the Image Plane, and then switching the projection from light or ambient light mode to texture mode, Fusion knows
to apply the projected image as a texture map. When using this technique, the windows would become transparent, and it would be possible to see the geometry behind the window.
The main advantages of this approach over light projection is that the Catcher can be used to project alpha onto an object, and that it doesnt require lighting to be enabled. Another advantage is
that the Catcher is not restricted to the diffuse input of a material, making it possible to project specular intensity maps, or even reflection and refraction maps.
Note that the Catcher material requires a Projector 3D or Camera 3D tool in the scene, set to project an image in Texture mode on the object the Catcher is connected to. Without a projection, or if the projection is not
set to Texture mode, the Catcher will simply make the object transparent and invisible.
External Inputs:
This material tool does not have any external inputs.
Controls
Enable
Use this checkbox to enable or disable the tool.
Color Accumulation Mode

The color accumulation mode is used to control how the Catcher will combine the light from multiple projectors. It will
have no affect on the results when only one projector is in the scene. This control is designed to work with the Software
renderer, and will have no affect when using the OpenGL renderer.
Alpha Accumulation Mode

The color accumulation mode is used to control how the Catcher will combine the alpha channels from multiple projec-
tors. It will have no affect on the results when only one projector is in the scene. This control is designed to work with
the Software renderer, and will have no affect when using the OpenGL renderer.
Accumulation Threshold
The accumulation threshold can be used to exclude certain low values from the accumulation calculation. For example,
when using the median accumulation mode, a threshold of 0.01 would exclude any pixel with a value of less than 0.01
from the median calculation.
Restrict by Projector ID
When active the Catcher will only receive light from Projectors with a matching ID. Projectors with a different ID will be
ignored.
Material ID
1988-2014 eyeon software - www.eyeonline.com [3Ca] 83

3D Tools
[3Cu] 3D Texture Tools
CubeMap
Description:
The CubeMap tool creates texture maps using seperate images for each face of the cube. It can also extract the individual faces of the cube from a single image
containing an unfolded cube in the vertical or horizontal cross layouts.
A cube map is produced by mounting 6 cameras at 90 degrees angle of views to point up, down, left, right, front, and back.
The tool provides options to set the reference coordinate system and rotation for the resulting texture map. The CubeMap tool is typically used to produce
environment maps for distant areas (such as skies or horizons) or reflection and refraction maps.
External Inputs:
CubeMap.CrossImage
[ white, required ] This input is only visible when the tool is set to the Vertical Cross or Horizontal Cross orientation. It expects a 2D image.
CubeMap.[DIRECTION]
[ white, required ] These six inputs are only visible when the tool is set to the Separate Images orientation mode. Each input expects an image aligned to match the left, right, up, down, front and
back faces.
Controls
Orientation
This multibutton control tells the tool which type of input to expect for the cubemap texture. Valid options are:
Separate Images
This option exposes six inputs on the tool tile, one for each face of the cube. If the separate images are not square or
not of the same size, they will be rescaled into the largest 1:1 image that can contain all of them.
Vertical Cross
This option exposes a single input on the tool tile. The image should be a unwrapped texture of a cube containing all
the faces organized into a vertical cross formation, where the height is larger than the width. If the image aspect of the
cross image is not 3:4 the cubemap tool will crop it down so that matches the appropriate aspect ratio.
Horizontal Cross
This option exposes a single input on the tool tile. The image should be a unwrapped texture of a cube containing all
the faces organized into a horizontal cross formation, where the width is larger than the height. If the image aspect of
the cross image is not 4:3 the cubemap tool will crop it down so that matches the appropriate aspect ratio.
Coordinate System
This multibutton control sets the coordinate system used when converting the image into a texture.
Model
This option orients the texture along the object local co-ordinate system.
World
This option orients the resulting texture using the global or world coordinate system.
Eye
This option aligns the texture map to the coordinate system of the camera or viewer.
Warn about bad dimensions

Selecting this checkbox will print a warning message into the console if the dimensions of the image provided does not
meet the requirements of the selected orientation mode.
Material ID
1988-2014 eyeon software - www.eyeonline.com [3Cu] 84

3D Tools
[3Fa] 3D Texture Tools
Falloff
Description:
The Falloff tool blend two materials together based on the incidence angle between the object the material is applied to and the camera. This is useful when
the artist wishes to use one material for portions of the geometry that would reflect light directly back to the camera and a different material for parts that
reflect light back into the scene.
External Inputs:
Falloff.FaceOnMaterial
[ orange, optional ] This input expects a 2D image or a 3D material. If a 2D image is provided it will be turned into a diffuse texture map using the basic material shader.
Falloff.GlancingMaterial
[ green, optional ] This input expects a 2D image or a 3D material. If a 2D image is provided it will be turned into a diffuse texture map using the basic material shader.
While the inputs for this tool can be images, the output will always be a material.
Controls
Color Variation
Two Tone
The colors for Glancing and Face On are defined by two regular Color Controls
Gradient
The colors for Glancing and Face On are defined by a Gradient Control. This can be used for a multitude of effects, like
creating Toon Shaders for example.
Face On Color
Face On Color
The Face On Color defines the color of surface parts facing the camera. If the Face on texture map is provided then the
color value provided here is multiplied by the color values in the texture.
Face on Opacity
Reducing the material's Opacity will decrease the color and alpha values of the Face On material, making the material
transparent.
Glancing Color
Glancing Color
The Glancing Color defines the color of surface parts more perpendicular to the camera. If the glancing material port
has a valid input, then this input is multiplied by this color.
Glancing Opacity
Reducing the material's Opacity will decrease the color and alpha values of the Glancing material, making the material
transparent.
Falloff
This value controls the transition between glancing and face on strength. It is very similar to an gamma operation ap-
plied to a gradient blending one value into another.
Material ID
1988-2014 eyeon software - www.eyeonline.com [3Fa] 85

3D Tools
[3FN] 3D Texture Tools
Fast Noise Texture
Description:
The Fast Noise Texture tool is the procedural resolution independent version of the the 2D Fast Noise tool. It creates a noise texture directly as a material for usage with 3D tools. It offers a 3D volu-
metric mode for creating seamless textures in conjunction with tools providing UVW texture coordinates (like the UV Map tool set to XYZtoUVW or Camera)
External Inputs
FastNoiseTexture.SourceMaterial
[ orange, required ] This input will accept a 2D image or a 3D material. This is modulated by the noise pattern.
Controls
Output Mode
2D
Calculates the noise texture based on 2D texture coordinates (UV). This mode allows smoothly varying the noise pat-
tern.
3D
Calculates the noise texture based on 3D texture coordinates (UVW). Tools like Shape 3D automatically provide a 3rd
texture coordinate, otherwise a 3D texture space can be created using the UV Map tool. Does not support animation of
the noise pattern.
Discontinuous
Normally the noise function interpolates between values to create a smooth continuous gradient of results. Enable this
checkbox to create hard discontinuity lines along some of the noise contours. The result will be a dramatically different
effect.
Invert
Select this checkbox to invert the noise, creating a negative image of the original pattern. This is most effective when
Discontinuous is also enabled.
Detail
Increase the value of this slider to produce a greater level of detail in the noise result. Larger values add more layers of
increasingly detailed noise without affecting the overall pattern. High values take longer to render but can produce a
more natural result (not all graphics cards support higher detail levels in hardware).
Brightness
This control adjusts the overall brightness of the noise map.
Contrast
This control increases or decreases the overall contrast of the noise map. It can exaggerate the effect of the noise.
Scale
The feature scale of the noise map can be adjusted using the Scale slider, changing it from gentle variations over the
whole image to a tighter overall texture effect. This value represents the scale along the UV axis.
Scale Z
(3D only) The Scale Z value scales the noise texture along the W axis in texture space.
Seethe
(2D only) The Seethe control smoothly varies the 2D noise pattern.
Seethe Rate
(2D only) As with the Seethe control above, the Seethe Rate also causes the noise map to evolve and change. The See-
the Rate defines the rate at which the noise changes each frame, causing an animated drift in the noise automatically,
without the need for spline animation.
Material ID
1988-2014 eyeon software - www.eyeonline.com [3FN] 86

3D Tools
[3Gd] 3D Texture Tools
Gradient 3D
Description:
With the Gradient 3D tool it is possible to texture objects with a variety of gradient types. It offers many of the controls of the Background tool. While it is not possible to transform the gradient
directly in 3d space, it is orientable using the following tools:
Texture Transform tool: The Texture Transform tool can be used to adjust the mapping per pixel.
UVMap tool: The UV Map tool can be used to adjust the mapping per vertex (use the XYZtoUVW mode).
This has onscreen controls so you can see what the gradient is doing. Using this tool is recommended because it is faster to evaluate.
This tool was created mostly to test 3D procedural texturing functionality of the material pipeline during development, so not all the buttons work (the samples per pixel buttons and possibly the
interpolation method)
Working with the Gradient tool may be a bit confusing at first. By default the gradient defaults to a linear gradient that goes from -1 to +1 along the Z-axis. All primitives in Fusion (Shape 3D) can
output a 3rd texture coordinate for UVW mapping.
Controls
Gradient Type
Determines the type of or pattern used for the gradient.
Linear
A simple linear gradient.
Reflect
Based on the linear mode, this gradient will be mirrored at the middle of the textured range.
Square
The gradient is applied using a square pattern.
Cross
Similar to the reflect mode, but it will use two axis to apply the gradient.
Radial
The radial mode uses a circular pattern to apply the gradient.
Gradient
The Gradient control consists of a bar where it is possible to add, modify and remove points of the gradient. Each point
has its own color. It is possible to animate the color as well as the postion of the point. Futhermore a From Image modi-
fer can be applied to the gradient to evaluate it from an image.
Gradient Interpolation Method

The gradient is linear interpolated from point to point in RGB color space by default. This can result in unwanted colors
sometimes. Choosing another color space may provide a better result.
Offset
Allows to pan through the gradient.
Repeat
Defines how the left and right border of the gradient is treated.
Gradients set to Once, Repeat and Ping Pong from top to bottom respectively and shifting the gradient to the left.
Once
When using the Gradient Offset control to shift the gradient the border colors will keep their values.
Shifting the default gradient to the left will result in a white border on the left,
shifting it to the right will result in a black border on the right.
Repeat
When using the Gradient Offset control to shift the gradient the border colors will be wrapped around.
Shifting the default gradient to the left will result in a sharp jump from white to black,
shifting it to the right will result in a sharp jump from black to white.
Ping Pong
When using the Gradient Offset control to shift the gradient the border colors ping pong back and forth.
Shifting the default gradient to the left will result in the edge fading from white back to black,
shifting it to the right will result in the edge fading from black back to white.
Sub Pixel
Determines the accuracy the gradient is created with.
Material ID
1988-2014 eyeon software - www.eyeonline.com [3Gd] 87
3D Tools
[3SpM] 3D Texture Tools
Sphere Map
Description:
The SphereMap tool allows the creation of a spherical texture map from an image. The input image should represent the texture information
in a longitude/latitude format, where the x axis represents 0-360 degrees longitude and the y axis represents -90 to +90 degrees latitude.
External Inputs
SphereMap.ImageImage
[ white, required ] Receives the RGBA channels from an image output
Controls Note
Angular Mapping The tool expects an image with an
Adjusts the texture coordinate mapping so the poles are less squashed and areas in the texture get mapped to equal aspect ratio of 21. Otherwise the
areas on the sphere. In other words, it turns the mapping of the latitude lines from a hemispherical fisheye to an angu- image is clamped according to the
lar fisheye. This mapping attempts to preserve area and makes it easier to paint on or modify a spheremap since the following rules:
image is not as compressed at the poles.
2 * width > height
Rotation The width is fit onto the sphere
Offers controls to rotate the texture map. and the poles will display clamped
edges.
Material ID
This slider sets the numeric identifier assigned to this material. This value will be rendered into the MatID auxiliary 2 * width < height
channel if the according option is enabled in the renderer. The height is fit onto the sphere
and there will be clamping about
the 0 degree longitude line.
Sphere Map vs. Connecting the texture to a Sphere directly

You can connect a latlong (equirectangular) texture map (see http://wiki.panotools.org/Equirectangular) directly to a
sphere instead of piping it through the Sphere Map tool first. This results in a different rendering if you set the start/
end angle and latitude to less than 360/180. In the first case, the texture will be squashed. When using the Sphere
Map tool, the texture will be cropped. Compare:
Note: If you pipe the texture directly into the sphere, it will also be mirrored horizontally.
You can fix this by using a Transform tool first.
1988-2014 eyeon software - www.eyeonline.com [3SpM] 88

3D Tools
[Txr] DeepPixel Tools
Texture
Description:
The Texture tool can control the texture mapping of elements in a rendered image. The texture-map image (connected to the green input) can be wrapped around objects to replace the current
texture. The Texture tool relies on the presence of U and V Map Channels in 3D rendered images. If these channels are not present this tool has no effect.
Note that background pixels may have U and V values of 0.0, which will set those pixels to the color of the texture's corner pixel. To restrict texturing to specific objects, use an effect mask based on
the alpha of the object, or its Object or Material ID channel.
For more information, see the Auxiliary Channels chapter.
External Inputs:
CreateTexture.ImageInput
[ orange, required ] This input expects a 2D image.
Controls
Wrap Mode
If a texture is transformed in the texture space (using the controls below or the UV Map tool) then its possible that
areas beyond the image borders are mapped on the object. The Wrap Mode determines how the image is applied in
these areas.
Wrap
This wraps the edges of the image around the borders of the image.
Clamp
The color at the edges of the images is used for texturing. This mode is similar to the Duplicate mode in the Transform
tool.
Black
The image is clipped along its edges. A black color with alpha=0 is used instead.
Mirror
The image is mirrored in both X and Y.
U/V Offset
These sliders can be used to offset the texture along the U and V coordinates.
U/V Scale
These sliders can be used to scale the texture along the U and V coordinates.
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3D Tools
[3TX] 3D Texture Tools
Texture Transform
Description:
The TextureTransform tool can be used to translate, rotate and scale image textures on the input material. While the input can also be an image, the output will always be a material.
External Inputs
TextureTransform.MaterialInput
[ orange, optional ] This input expects a 2D image or 3D material.
Controls Note
Not all wrap modes will be suppor-
Translation ted by all graphics cards.
U, V, W Translation
These sliders will shifts the texture along U, V, and W axis.
Rotation
Rotation Order
Use these buttons to set the order in which the rotation applied.
U, V, W Rotation
In conjunction with the Rotation Order these settings defines the rotation around the UVW axis.
Scale
U, V, W Scale
Scales the texture along the according UVW axis.
Pivot
U, V, W Pivot
Sets the reference point for rotation and scaling
Material ID
1988-2014 eyeon software - www.eyeonline.com [3TX] 90

Blur Tools
Blur Defocus Directional Blur Glow Sharpen
Soft Glow Unsharp Mask VariBlur Vector Motion Blur

Blur Tools
[Blur] Blur Tools
Blur
Description:
The Blur tool does exactly what its name implies - it blurs the input image. This is one of the most commonly used image processing operations.
Controls Note
Filter Type Since a perfect Gaussian filter
The Filter Type button array allows for the selection of the filter to be applied to the image. would require examining an infi-
nite number of pixels, all practical
Box Blur Gaussians are of necessity approxi-
This option applies a Box Blur effect to the whole image. This method is faster than the Gaussian blur but mations. The algorithm Fusion uses
produces a lower quality result. is a highly-optimised approach that
has many strengths, but can give
Soften rise to visible ringing around the
Soften applies a general softening filter effect. This filter method is slower than the Gaussian filter, and produ- edges in certain extreme cases. This
ces a lower quality result. It is included for compatibility with older flows only. ringing only appears when blurring
float-depth images, and is normally
Bartlett far below the limits of visibility,
Bartlett applies a more subtle, anti-aliased blur filter. especially in final renders or HiQ
mode, but may appear in subse-
Multi-Box quent processing. If you experience
Multi-Box uses a box filter layered in multiple passes to approximate a Gaussian shape. With a moderate num- this, the new Multi-Box filter may
ber of passes (e.g. 4), a high quality blur can be obtained, often faster than the Gaussian filter, and without any be a viable alternative.
ringing.
Gaussian
Gaussian applies a smooth, symmetrical blur filter, using a sophisticated constant-time Gaussian approxima-
tion algorithm. In extreme cases, this algorithm may exhibit ringing see below for a discussion of this. This
mode is the default filter method.
Color Channels (RGBA)

The filter defaults to operating on R, G, B and A channels. Selective channel filtering is possible by clicking the
check boxes beside each channel to make them active or inactive
Note that this is not the same as the RGBA checkboxes found under the common controls. The Blur tool takes
these selections into account before it processes the image, so deselecting a channel will cause the tool to
skip that channel when processing, speeding up the rendering of the effect.
In contrast the channel controls under the Common controls tab are applied after the tool has processed.
Lock X/Y
Locks the X and Y blur sliders together for symmetrical blurring. This is checked by default.
Blur Size
Sets the amount of blur applied to the image. When the Lock X and Y control is deselected, independent
control over each axis is provided.
Clipping Mode
This option sets the mode used to handle the edges of the image when performing domain of definition ren-
dering. This is profoundly important for tools like Blur which may require samples from portions of the image
outside the current domain.
Frame
The default option is Frame, which automatically sets the tools domain of definition to use the full frame of
the image, effectively ignoring the current domain of definition. This is identical to the way Fusion worked in
versions prior to 6.0. If the upstream DOD is smaller than the frame, the remaining area in the frame will be
treated as black/transparent.
Domain
Setting this option to Domain will respect the upstream domain of definition when applying the tools effect.
This can have adverse clipping effects in situations where the tool employs a large filter.
None
Setting this option to None will not perform any source image clipping at all. This means that any data requi-
red to process the tools effect which would normally be outside the upstream DOD will be treated as black/
transparent.
Blend
This is a cloned instance of the blend slider in the common controls tab. Changes made to this control are
simultaneously made to the one in the common controls.
The blend slider mixes the result of the tool with its input, blending back the effect at any value less than 1.0.
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Blur Tools
[Blur] Blur Tools
Blur
Examples
This is a comparison of blur filters visualized as "cross-sections" of a filtered edge. As you can see, box will create a
linear ramp, while Bartlett creates a somewhat smoother ramp. Multibox and Gaussian result in even smoother ramps
that are virtually indistinguishable unless you zoom in really close on the slopes. As mentioned above, Gaussian will
overshoot slightly and may result in negative values if used on floating point images.
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Blur Tools
[DFO] Blur Tools
Defocus
Description:
The Defocus Tool simulates the effects of an out-of focus camera lens, including blooming and image flaring. It provides a fast but relatively inaccurate Gaussian mode, as well as a more
realistic but much slower Lens mode.
Controls
Filter
Use this menu to select the exact method applied to create the defocus. Gaussian applies a fairly simplistic
effect while Lens mode will create a much more realistic defocus. Lens mode will take significantly longer than
Gaussian.
Lock X/Y
When Lock X/Y is selected, this performs the same amount of defocusing to both the X and Y axis of the
image. Deselect to obtain individual control.
Defocus Size
The Defocus Size control sets the size of the defocus effect. Higher values blur the image by greater amounts
and produce larger blooms.
Bloom Level
The Bloom Level control determines the intensity and size of the blooming applied to pixels that are above
the bloom threshold.
Bloom Threshold
Pixels with values above the set Bloom Threshold are defocused and have a glow applied (blooming). Pixels
below that value are only defocused.
Lens Type
The basic shape that is used to create the "bad bokeh" effect. This can be refined further with the Angle, Sides
and Shape sliders.
Lens Angle
Defines the rotation of the shape. Best visible with NGon Lens Types. Due to the round nature of a circle this
slider will have no visible effect when the Lens Type is set to Circle.
Lens Sides
Defines how many sides the NGon shapes will have. Best visible with NGon Lens Types. Due to the round
nature of a circle this slider will have no visible effect when the Lens Type is set to Circle.
Lens Shape
Defines how pointed the NGons are. Higher values will create a more pointed, starry look. Lower values create
smoother NGons.
Best visible with NGon Lens Types and Lens Sides between 5 and 10. Due to the round nature of a circle this
slider will have no visible effect when the Lens Type is set to Circle.
Use OpenCL
Introduced with Fusions OpenCL Supercomputing this option renders the effect on the GPU rather than on
the CPU.
Depending on the graphics card used in the computer this can boost the speed of the tool by a factor of 30
and more.
Clipping Mode
Frame
Domain
None
transparent.
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Blur Tools
[DrBl] Blur Tools
Directional Blur
Description:
This tool is used to create directional and radial blurs. It is useful for creating simulated motion blur and light ray type effects. All channels (RGBA) are affected by Directional Blur.
Controls
Type
This button array is used to select the Type of directional blur to be supplied to the image.
Linear
Linear distorts the image in a straight line, resembling the scenery that appears in the window of a speeding
train.
Radial
Radial will create a distortion that originates at some arbitrary center, radiating outward the way that a view
would appear if one were at the head of the train looking forward.
Centered
The Centered button produces a similar result to linear but the blur effect is equally distributed on both sides
of the original.
Zoom
Zoom creates a distortion in the scale of the image smear to simulate the zoom streaking of a camera filming
with a slow shutter speed.
Center X And Y
This coordinate control and crosshair affect the radial and zoom motion blur types only. It is used to calculate
the position from where the blurring effect starts.
Length
Length adjusts the strength and heading of the effect. Values lower than zero cause blurs to oppose the angle
control. Values greater than slider maximum may be typed into the slider's edit box.
Angle
In both linear modes, this control will modify the direction of the directional blur. In the radial and zoom
modes, the effect will be similar to that of the camera spinning while looking at the same spot. If the setting of
the length slider is other then 0, the effect will create a whirlpool effect.
Glow
This will add a Glow to the directional blur, which can be used to duplicate the effect of increased camera
exposure to light caused by longer shutter speeds.
Clipping Mode
Frame
Domain
None
transparent.
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Blur Tools
[Glo] Blur Tools
Glow
Description:
A glow is basically created by blurring an image, then brightening the blurred result and mixing it back with the original.
The Glow tool provides a more convenient way to accomplish this effect, as well as a variety of variations on the theme. For example, a Bartlett glow is a high quality glow with smoother drop
off, however, it is more processor-intensive at larger sizes.
Controls
Filter
Use these buttons to select the method of Blur used in the filter. The selections are described below.
Box
A simple but very fast Box filter.
Bartlett
Bartlett adds a softer, subtler glow with a smoother drop off, but may take longer to render than Box.
Multi-Box
Multi-Box uses a box filter layered in multiple passes to approximate a Gaussian shape. With a moderate num-
ber of passes (e.g. 4), a high quality blur can be obtained, often faster than the Gaussian filter, and without any
ringing.
Gaussian
Gaussian adds a soft glow, blurred by the gaussian algorithm. This is the default method.
Blend
Blend adds a non-linear glow that is evenly visible in the whites and blacks.
Hilight
Hilight adds a glow without creating a halo in the surrounding pixels.
Solarize
Solarize adds a glow and solarizes the image.

The filter defaults to operating on R, G, B and A channels. Selective channel filtering is possible by clicking the
checkboxes beside each channel to make them active or inactive.
This is not the same as the RGBA checkboxes found under the common controls. The tool takes these controls
into account before it processes. Deselecting a channel will cause the tool to skip that channel when proces-
sing, speeding up the rendering of the effect.
In contrast, the channel controls under the common controls tab are applied after the tool has processed.
Lock X/Y
When Lock X/Y is checked, both the horizontal and vertical glow amounts will be locked. Otherwise, separate
amounts of blur may be applied to each axis.
Glow Size
Glow Size determines the size of the glow effect. Larger values expand the size of the glowing highlights of
the image.
Num Passes
Only available in Multi Box mode. Larger values result in a smoother distribution of the effect but also increase
render times. Good to find that thin line between desired quality and acceptable render times.
Glow
The Glow slider determines the intensity of the glow effect. Larger values tend to completely blow the image
out to white.
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Blur Tools
[Glo] Blur Tools
Glow
Clipping Mode
Frame
Domain
None
transparent.
Blend
This is a cloned instance of the Blend slider in the common controls tab. Changes made to this control are
Apply Mode
Three Apply Modes are available when it comes to applying the glow to the image.
Normal
Default. This mode simply adds the glow directly over top of the original image.
Merge Under
Merge Under places the glow beneath the image, based on the alpha channel. Threshold mode permits clip-
ping of the threshold values.
Threshold
This control clips the effect of the glow. A new range slider will appear. Pixels in the glowed areas with values
below the low value will be pushed to black. Pixels with values greater than high will be pushed to white.
High-Low Range Control

Only available in Threshold mode. Pixels in the glowed areas with values below the low value will be pushed to
black. Pixels with values greater than high will be pushed to white.
Color Scale (RGBA)

These Scale sliders are normally a reveal control labelled Color Scale. They can be used to adjust the amount
of glow applied to each color channel individually, thereby tinting the glow.
Glow Pre Mask

The glow tool supports premasking using the glow mask. A Glow Pre Mask filters the image before applying the glow. The
glow is then merged back over the original image. This is different from a regular effect mask that clips the rendered result.
The glow mask allows the glow to extend beyond the borders of the mask, while restricting the source of the glow to only
those pixels within the mask.
To apply a glow mask, select Glow Mask instead of Effect Mask from the context menu when a glow tool is active. Glow
masks are identical to effects masks in every other respect.
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Blur Tools
[Shrp] Blur Tools
Sharpen
Description:
The Sharpen tool uses a convolution filter to enhance detail in an image.
Controls
The filter defaults to operating on R G B and A channels. Selective channel filtering is possible by clicking the
into account before it processes, so deselecting a channel will cause the tool to skip that channel when pro-
cessing, speeding up the rendering of the effect.
Lock X/Y
This Locks the X and Y sharpen sliders together for symmetrical sharpening. This is checked by default.
Amount
This slider sets the Amount of sharpening applied to the image. When the lock X/Y control is deselected, inde-
pendent control over each axis is provided.
Clipping Mode
Frame
Domain
None
transparent.
Blend
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Blur Tools
[SGl] Blur Tools
Soft Glow
Description:
The Soft Glow tool is similar to the Glow tool but performs additional processing of the image to create a much softer, more natural glow.
This tool is perfect for atmospheric haze around planets, skin tones, and simulating dream-like environments.
Controls Note
Filter
Use these buttons to select the method of Blur used in the filter. The selections are described below. Glow Pre Mask
The glow tool supports pre-masking
using the Glow Pre Mask input on the
Box
tool tile. A pre-mask limits the image
A simple but very fast Box filter.
before applying the glow. The glow is
then is combined with the original image.
Bartlett
Bartlett adds a softer, subtler glow with a smoother drop off, but may take longer to render than Box. This is different from a regular effect
mask that limits the rendered result.
Multi-Box
Multi-Box uses a box filter layered in multiple passes to approximate a Gaussian shape. With a moderate num- The glow mask allows the glow to
extend beyond the borders of the mask,
while restricting the source of the glow
ringing.
to only those pixels within the mask.
Gaussian
Gaussian adds a soft glow, blurred by the gaussian algorithm. This is the default method.

Threshold
This control is used to limit the affect of the soft glow. The higher the threshold, the brighter the pixel must be
before it is affected by the glow.
Gain
The Gain control defines how bright the glow is.
Lock X/Y
When Lock X/Y is checked, both the horizontal and vertical glow amounts will be locked. Otherwise, separate
amounts of glow may be applied to each axis of the image.
Glow Size
Amount determines the size of the glow effect. Larger values expand the size of the glowing highlights of the
image.
Num Passes
Only available in Multi Box mode. Larger values result in a smoother distribution of the effect but also increase
render times. Good to find that thin line between desired quality and acceptable render times.
Clipping Mode
Frame
Domain
None
transparent.
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Blur Tools
[SGl] Blur Tools
Soft Glow
Blend
Color Scale (RGBA)

These Scale sliders are normally a reveal control labelled Color Scale. They can be used to adjust the amount
of glow applied to each color channel individually, thereby tinting the glow.
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Blur Tools
[VBl] Blur Tools
VariBlur
Description:
The VariBlur tool gives a true per-pixel variable blur, using a second image to control the amount of blur for each pixel. It is somewhat similar in effect to the Depth Blur tool but uses a diffe-
rent approach for cleaner results in many cases.
Controls Note
Method The Blur Image input must be
connected, or no blurring will be
Soften performed.
This method varies from a simple box shape to a Bartlett triangle to a decent-looking smooth blur as Quality
is increased. It is a little better at preserving detail in less-blurred areas than Multibox.
Multibox
Similar to Soften, this gives a better Gaussian approximation at higher Quality settings.
Defocus
Not really a true defocus, this gives a flat, circular shape to blurred pixels that can approximate the look of a
defocus.
Quality
Increasing Quality gives smoother blurs, at the expense of speed. Quality set to 1 uses a very fast but simple
box blur, for all Method settings. A Quality of 2 is usually sufficient for low Blur Size values. 4 is generally good
enough for most jobs unless Blur Size is particularly high.
Blur Channel
This selects which channel of the Blur Image controls the amount of blurring applied to each pixel.
Lock X/Y
When selected ony a Blur Size control is shown and changes to the amount of blur are applied to both axes
equally. If the checkbox is cleared, individual controls appear for both X and Y Blur Size.
Blur Size
Increasing this control will increase the overall amount of blur applied to each pixel. Those pixels where the
Blur Image is black or non-existent will never be blurred, regardless of Blur Size.
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Blur Tools
[US] Blur Tools
Unsharp Mask
Description:
Unsharp masking is a technique used to sharpen only the edges within an image. This tool is most often used to correct for blurring and loss of detail in low contrast images for example, to
extract useful detail from long exposure shots of far-away galaxies.
This filter operation is performed by extracting a range of frequencies from the image and blurring them to reduce detail. The blurred result is then compared to the original images. Pixels
with a significant difference between the original and the blurred image is likely to be an edge detail. The pixel is then brightened to enhance it.
Controls
Lock X/Y
When Lock X/Y is checked, both the horizontal and vertical sharpen amounts will be locked. Otherwise, sepa-
rate amounts of glow may be applied to each axis of the image.
Size
This control adjusts the size of blur filter applied to the extracted image. The higher this value, the more likely
it is that pixels will be identified as detail.
Gain
The Gain control adjusts how much gain is applied to pixels identified as detail by the mask. Higher values will
create a sharper image.
Threshold Low And High

This range control determines the frequencies from the source image to be extracted. Raising low values will
eliminate dark pixels from the comparison. Pixels above the high value will have the full effect of the gain
applied.
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Blur Tools
[VBl] Blur Tools
Vector Motion Blur
Description:
This tool is used to create directional blurs based on a Vector Channel.
Overview
This tool will perform a 2D blur on the image, using a vector map produced by a 3D application. The vector
map is typically two floating point images, one channel specifies how far the pixel is moving in X, and the
other specifies how far the pixel is moving in Y. These channels may be embedded in the image in the case of
OpenEXR or RLA/RPF images, or may be provided as separate images using the tools Vectors input.
The vector channels should use a float16 or float32 color depth, to provide + and - values. A value of 1 in the
X channel would indicate that pixel has moved one pixel to the right, while a value of -10 indicates ten pixels
of movement to the left.
Controls
X Channel
Use this Multibutton array to choose which channel of the image will provide the vectors for the movement of
the pixels along the X axis.
Y Channel
Use this Multibutton array to choose which channel of the image will provide the vectors for the movement of
the pixels along the Y axis.
Flip X Channel
This checkbox can be used to flip, or invert the X vectors. A value of 5 for a pixel in the X vector channel would
become -5 when this checkbox is selected.
Flip Y Channel
This checkbox can be used to flip, or invert the Y vectors. A value of 5 for a pixel in the Y vector channel would
become -5 when this checkbox is selected.
Lock Scale X/Y

Selecting this checkbox will provide access to seperate sliders for X and Y Scale. Dy default only a single Scale
slider is provided.
Scale / Scale X
This slider will be labeled Scale if the Lock Scale X/Y checkbox is not selected, otherwise it will be labelled
Scale X. The vector channel value for a pixel is multiplied by the value of this slider. For example, given a scale
of 2 and a vector value of 10, the result would be 20.
Scale Y
This slider will only appear if the Lock Scale X/Y checkbox is selected. Otherwise it will be hidden, and use the
same value set in the Scale slider above.
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Color Tools
Auto Gain Brightness/Contrast Channel Boolean Color Corrector Color Curves
Color Gain Color Matrix Color Space Color Gamut Hue Curves
Set Canvas Color White Balance OCIO OCIO OCIO

CDL Transform ColorSpace FileTransform

Color Tools
[AG] Color Tools
Auto Gain
Description:
The Auto Gain Tool is used to automatically adjust the color range of an image so that the darkest and brightest pixels are set to user-selected values. By default, the darkest pixels in the
image are pushed down to black, the brightest pixels are pushed to white and all of the pixels in between are stretched to cover the color range evenly.
This can be useful when compensating for variations in lighting, dealing with low contrast images, or visualizing the full color range of float images (though the image view's View Normalised
Image button is generally more suitable for this).
Controls Note
Variations over time in the input
Do Z
image can cause corresponding
Select the Do Z checkbox to apply the auto gain effect to the Z-channels. This can be useful for matching the ranges of
variations in the levels of the result.
one Z-channel to another, or to view a float Z-channel in the RGB values.
For example, if a bright object
moves out of an otherwise dark
Range shot, the remaining scene will get
This Range control is used to set the lowest and highest possible pixel value in the image. All color values in the image suddenly brighter, as the remaining
are rescaled to fit within this range. darker values are stretched to white.
This also applies to sudden depth
changes when Do Z is applied
existing objects may be pushed
forward or backwards when a near
or far object enters or or leaves the
scene.
Example
Create a horizontal gradient with the Background tool. Set one color to dark grey (RGB Values 0.2). Set the other color
to light grey (RGB Values 0.8).
Add an Auto Gain tool and set the Low value to 0.0 and the High to 0.5. This will cause the brightest pixels to be pushed
down to 0.5 and the darkest pixels will get pushed to black. The remainder of the pixel values will be scaled between
those limits.
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Color Tools
[BC] Color Tools
Brightness Contrast
Description:
The Brightness Contrast tool is used to adjust the gain, brightness, contrast, gamma and saturation of an image.
The order of the controls represents the order in which each operation is applied (for example, gamma is applied before contrast but after gain).
The Brightness Contrast is also reversible using the Forward and Reverse buttons.
So color corrections, once applied, can be reversed further downstream.
For this to work best make sure that your image is processed in 32bit floating point.
Controls
The filter defaults to operating on R G B and A channels. Selective channel filtering is possible by clicking the checkbo-
xes beside each channel to make them active or inactive.
This is not the same as the RGBA checkboxes found under the common controls. The tool takes these controls into
account before it processes, so deselecting a channel will cause the tool to skip that channel when processing, speeding
up the rendering of the effect.
Gain
The pixel values are multiplied by the value of this control. A Gain of 1.2 will make a pixel that is R0.5 G0.5 B0.4 into R0.6
G0.6, B0.48 (i.e. 0.4 * 1.2 = 0.48). Gain affects higher values more than it affects lower values so the effect will be stron-
gest in the midrange and toprange of the image.
Lift
While Gain basically scales the color values around Black, Lift scales the color values around White. The pixel values are
multiplied by the value of this control. A Lift of 0.5 will make a pixel that is R0.0 G0.0 B0.0 into R0.5 G0.5, B0.5, while
leaving white pixels totally unaffected. Lift affects lower values more than it affects higher values so the effect will be
strongest in the midrange and lowrange of the image.
Gamma
Values higher than 1.0 will raise the Gamma (mid gray), whereas lower values will decrease it. The affect of this tool is
not linear and existing black or white levels will not be affected at all. Pure grey colors will be affected the most.
Contrast
Contrast is the range of difference between the light to dark areas. Increasing the value of this slider will increase the
contrast, pushing color from the midrange towards black and white. Reducing the contrast will cause the colors in the
image to move toward midrange, reducing the difference between the darkest and brightest pixels in the image.
Brightness
The value of the Brightness slider is added to the value of each pixel in the image. This control's affect on an image is
linear so the effect will be applied identically to all pixels regardless of value.
Saturation
This control is used to increase or decrease the amount of Saturation in the image. A saturation of 0 has no color. All
colors are greyscale.
Low And High

This range control is similar to the gain control in some respects. If Low is anchored at 0.0 and the High value is reduced
from 1.0, the effect is identical to increasing the gain. High values are multiplied by the inverse of the high value. (i.e, if
high is 0.75, each pixel will be multiplied by 1/0.75 or 1.3333).
Leaving the high anchored at 1.0 and increasing the low is exactly the same as inverting the image colors and increasing
the gain and inverting it back again. This pushes more of the image toward black without affecting the whites at all.
Direction
Forward applies all values normally.
Reverse effectively inverts all values.
Clip Black/White
The Clip Black and Clip White checkboxes are used to clip out of range color values that can appear in an image when
processing in floating point color depth. Out of range colors are below black (0.0) or above white (1.0). These check-
boxes will have no affect on images processed at 8 bit or 16 bit per channel, as such images cannot have out of range
values.
Pre-Divide/Post-Multiply
Selecting the Pre-Divide/Post-Multiply checkbox will cause the image pixel values to be divided by the alpha values
prior to the color correction, and then re-multiplied by the alpha value after the correction.
This helps to prevent the creation of illegally additive images, particularly around the edges of a blue/green key or when
working with 3D rendered objects.
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Color Tools
[Bol] Color Tools
Channel Boolean
Description:
The Channel Booleans Tool can be used to apply a variety of mathematical and logical operations on the channels in an image. This tool works by using one image's channels to modify ano-
ther image's channels. If a foreground input is not available, selecting options that use color channels from the foreground will end up using the background input's color channels instead.
On the Color Channels tab the tool controls are divided as follows:
On the left side are target channels for the image piped into the Channel Booleans (Background input). The dropdown to the right lets you choose whether you want to modify the BG image
with its own channels (suffix BG after list name) or with the channels from another image, which must be piped into the Foreground input on the Channel Booleans node (suffix FG in the drop
down list).
Controls
Operation Type
This drop-down box is used to select the mathematical method applied to the selected channels. It's settings are as
follows
Copy
Copy the value from one color channel to another. For example, copy the foreground red channel into the alpha chan-
nel to create a matte.
Add
Add the color values from color channel to channel.
Subtract
Subtract the color values of one color channel from another color channel.
And
Perform a logical AND on the color values from color channel to color channel. The foreground image will generally
remove bits from the color channel of the background image.
Or
Perform a logical OR on the color values from color channel to color channel. The foreground image will generally add
bits from the color channel of the background image.
Exclusive Or
Perform a logical XOR on the color values from color channel to color channel. The foreground image will generally flip
bits from the color channel of the background image.
Multiply
Multiply the values of a color channel. This will give the appearance of darkening the image as the values are scaled
from 0 to 1. White has a value of one so the result would be the same. Grey has a value of 0.5 so the result would be a
darker image or, in other words, an image half as bright.
Divide
Divide the values of a color channel. This will give the appearance of lightening the image as the values are scaled from
0 to 1.
Maximum
Compare the two images and take the Maximum, or brightest, values from each image.
Minimum
Compare the two images and take the Minimum, or darkest, values from each image.
Negative
Invert the FG input to make a Negative version of the image.
Solid
Solid sets a channel to a full value of 255. This is useful for setting the alpha to full value.
Clear
Clear sets a channel to a value of zero. This is useful for clearing the alpha.
Difference
Difference subtracts the greater color values of one color channel from the lesser values of another color channel.
Signed Add
Signed Add subtracts areas that are lower than mid-gray and add areas that are higher than mid-gray, which is useful
for creating effects with embossed gray images.
To Red, Green, Blue, Alpha

These menus represent the four color channels of the output image. Use the drop-down menu to select which channel
from the source images will be used to produce the output channel.
The default setting simply copies the channels from the foreground channel. Select any one of the four color channels,
as well as several auxiliary channels like Z-buffer, saturation, luminance and hue.
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Color Tools
[Bol] Color Tools
Channel Boolean
Auxiliary Channels
There are several Auxiliary Channels. Use these menus to select a source for the auxiliary channels of the output image.
See the chapter on 3D Tools for further details on auxiliary channels.
Enable Extra Channels

When the Enable Extra Channels checkbox is selected, the channel boolean tool will be able to output images with
channels beyond the usual RGBA. The remaining controls in this tab will become active and can be used to copy data
into the auxiliary channels.
Examples
1
To copy the Alpha channel of one image to its own color channels, set the Red, Green and Blue channels to Alpha BG.
Set the Operation to Copy. To copy the Alpha channel from another image, set operation type to Alpha FG.
2
To replace the existing alpha channel of an image with the alpha of another image choose Do Nothing for To Red, To
Green, To Blue and Alpha FG for To Alpha. Pipe the image containing the alpha into the Foreground input on the Chan-
nel Booleans. Operation: Copy. The same operation can also be performed using the Matte Control tool.
To combine any type of mask into an alpha for an image choose Do Nothing for To Red, To Green, To Blue and Matte
for To Alpha. Pipe the mask into the Foreground input on the Channel Booleans. Operation: Copy.
To subtract the red channels pixels of another image from the blue channel choose Do Nothing for To Red, To Green
and Red FG for To Blue. Pipe the image containing the red channel to subtract into the Foreground input on the Chan-
nel Booleans node. Operation: Subtract.
1988-2014 eyeon software - www.eyeonline.com Channel Boolean 108

Color Tools
[CC] Color Tools
Color Corrector
Description:
The Color Corrector Tool is a comprehensive color tool with histograms, matching and equalization, hue shifting, tinting and color suppression.
The Color Corrector has two image inputs. Connect the image to be corrected to the primary input. The secondary input can be used as a reference for histogram matching.
Overview
Controls in the color correction tool are separated into four separate categories colors, levels, histogram and
suppress. Selecting one of the category buttons from the array at the top of the Correction Tab will cause that
category's controls to appear. Each category is described in detail below.
Colors Mode
Master/Shadows/Midtones/Highlights
This array of buttons determines the range of colors affected by the controls in this tab. For example, when
the Shadows range is selected, any color adjustments made will affect only the darker pixels of the image.
The selected state of this button is maintained throughout the Colors, Levels and Suppress sections of the
Color Corrector tool.
Note that the controls are independent for each color range. For example, adjusting the Gamma control while
in Shadows mode will not change or affect the value of the Gamma control for the Highlights mode. Each
control is independent and applied separately.
Adjustments made to the image in the Master channel are applied to the image after any changes made to
the Highlight, Midtone and Shadow ranges.
Color Wheel
The Color Wheel display provides a visual representation of adjustments made to Hue and Saturation, as well
as any tinting applied to the image. Adjustments can be made directly on the display, or by entering values in
the text boxes to the right of the Color Wheel.
Hue
The Hue control provides a method of shifting the Hue of the image (or selected color range) through the
color spectrum. The control value has an effective range between 0.0 and 1.0, which represents the angle of
rotation in a clockwise direction. A value of 0.25 would be 90 degrees (90/360) and would have the effect of
shifting red toward blue, green to red and so on.
The degree of hue shifting can be entered directly into the text control, or by placing the mouse above the
outer ring of the color control and dragging the mouse up or down. The outer ring will always show the shif-
ted colors compared to the original colors shown in the center of the control.
Saturation
The Saturation control is used to adjust the intensity of the color values. A Saturation of 0 produces grey pixels
without any chroma or color component, whereas a value of 1.0 produces no change in the chroma compo-
nent of the input image. Higher values will generate over-saturated values with a high color component.
Saturation values can be entered directly into the text control, or by click-dragging the mouse to the left and
right on the outer ring of the color wheel control.
Tint/Strength
The Tint control is used to tint an image or selected color range. The values in this control go from 0 to 1.0,
which indicate the angle of the tint color on the color wheel. A value of.25 would indicate 90 degrees, which
would be midway between green and yellow on the color wheel.
The Strength control determines how much tint is applied to the selected range of colors.
The tinting is represented in the Color Wheel control by small circles that show the color and strength of the
tint. The Highlight Ranges marker is a black outline of a circle. The Midtones are represented by a grey circle,
and the Shadows by a grey one. The Master Tint Marker is also black, but it has a white M in the center to
distinguish it from the others.
The marker for each range can be positioned by the mouse only when the appropriate range is selected. For
example, the Highlight Marker cannot be moved when the Master range is selected.
Hold down the Ctrl key while dragging this control will allow you to make finer adjustments by reducing the
controls sensitivity to mouse movements. Holding the Shift key down will limit the movement of the marker to
a single axis, allowing you to restrict the affect to either tint or strength.
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Color Tools
[CC] Color Tools
Color Corrector
Tint Mode
Fast/Full/Better
These three buttons are used to select the speed and quality of the algorithm used to apply the tint, hue and
saturation adjustments. The default is Better, but for working with larger images, it may be desirable to use a
lesser, faster method.
Hue
This slider is a clone of the Hue control shown in the color wheel above. The slider makes it easier to make
small adjustments to the value with the mouse.
Saturation
This slider is a clone of the Saturation control shown in the color wheel above. The slider makes it easier to
make small adjustments to the value with the mouse.
RGB/Red/Green/Blue
These buttons are the same buttons seen in the Histogram, Color and Levels sections of the Color Corrector
tool. When the Red channel is selected, the controls in this tab will affect the Red channel only, and so on.
The controls are independent, so switching to Blue will not remove or eliminate any changes made to Red,
Green or Master. The animation and adjustments made to each channel are separate. These buttons simply
determine what controls to display.
Master RGB Contrast

Contrast is the range of difference between the light to dark areas. Increasing the value of this slider will incre-
ase the contrast, pushing color from the midrange towards black and white. Reducing the contrast will cause
the colors in the image to move towards midrange, reducing the difference between the darkest and brightest
pixels in the image.
Master RGB Gain

The pixel values are multiplied by the value of this control. A gain of 1.2 will make a pixel which is R0.5 G0.5
B0.4 into R0.6 G0.6, B0.48 (i.e. 0.4 * 1.2 = 0.48). Gain affects higher values more than it affects lower values, so
the effect will be strongest in the midrange and toprange of your image.
Master RGB Lift

While Gain basically scales the color values around Black, Lift scales the color values around White. The pixel
values are multiplied by the value of this control. A Lift of 0.5 will make a pixel that is R0.0 G0.0 B0.0 into R0.5
G0.5, B0.5, while leaving white pixels totally unaffected. Lift affects lower values more than it affects higher
values so the effect will be strongest in the midrange and lowrange of the image.
Master RGB Gamma

Values higher than 1.0 will raise the gamma (mid gray) while lower values will decrease it. The affect of this
tool is not linear, and existing black or white levels will not be affected at all. Pure grey's will be affected the
most.
Master RGB Brightness

The value of the brightness slider is added to the value of each pixel in your image. This control's affect on an
image is linear, so the effect will be applied identically to all pixels regardless of value.
Reset All Color Changes

Selecting this button will return all color controls in this section to their default values.
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Color Tools
[CC] Color Tools
Color Corrector
Levels Mode
Master/Shadows/Midtones/Highlights
This array is described in the colors mode above.
Histogram Control
A Histogram is a chart that represents the distribution of color values in the scene. The chart reads from left to
right, with the leftmost values representing the darkest colors in the scene and the rightmost values represen-
ting the brightest. The more pixels in an image with the same or similar value, the higher that portion of the
chart will be.
Luminance is calculated per channel, therefore, the Red, Green and Blue channels all have their own histogram
and the combined result of these comprise the Master Histogram.
To scale the histogram vertically, place the mouse pointer inside the control and click-drag the pointer up to
zoom in or down to zoom out.
RGB/Red/Green/Blue
These buttons are used to select and display the histogram for each color channel or for the master channel.
Display Selector Toolbar

The Display Selector Toolbar provides a method of enabling and disabling components of the histogram dis-
play. Hold the mouse pointer over the button to display a tooltip that describes the button's function.
Input Histogram
This enables or disables the display of the Input image's histogram.
Reference Histogram
This enables or disables the display of the Reference image's histogram.
Output Histogram
This enables or disables the display of the histogram from the post color corrected image.
Corrective Curve
This toggles the display of a spline used to visualize exactly how auto color corrections applied using a refe-
rence image are affecting the image. This can be useful when equalizing luminance between the input and
reference images.
Low/Mid/High
These controls are used to adjust the input image's histogram, compressing or shifting the ranges of the
selected color channel.
The controls can be adjusted by click-dragging the triangles beneath the histogram display to the left and
right.
Shifting the high value toward the left (decreasing the value) will cause the histogram to slant toward white,
shifting the image distribution toward white. The low value will have a similar affect in the opposite direction,
pushing the image distribution toward black.
Threshold Output Low/High

The Threshold control can apply clipping to the image, compressing the histogram. Decreasing the level of
the High control will reduce the value of pixels in the image, sliding white pixels down toward grey and grey
pixels toward black.
Adjusting the Low control toward high will do the opposite, sliding the darkest pixels toward white.
If the low value were set to 0.1, pixels with a value of 0.0 would be set to 0.1 instead, and all other values
would increase to accommodate the change. The best way to visualize the effect is to observe the change to
the output histogram displayed above.
Reset All Levels

Clicking on this button will reset all of the controls in the Levels section to their defaults.

Color Tools
[CC] Color Tools
Color Corrector
Histogram Mode
This color corrector mode produces a Histogram display of the input image. If a reference image is also pro-
vided, the histogram for the reference image is also displayed. The controls in this tab are primarily used to
match one image to another, using either the Equalize or Match modes of the Color Corrector.
Float Images And Histogram Equalization Or Matching
Use the histogram matching or equalization methods on a float image and the color depth of the output
image will be converted to 16 bit integer. Two dimensional histograms are not well suited to working with the
extreme dynamic range of float images so these operations will always revert to 16 bit integer processing.
Histogram Control
The Histogram Control is described in detail earlier in this tool documentation, under the heading of the
Levels Mode.
Keep/Equalize/Match Buttons
Each of these buttons enables a different type of color correction operation.
Keep
Keep produces no change to the image and the reference histogram is ignored.
Equalize
Selecting Equalize adjusts the source image so that all of the color values in the image are equally represen-
ted, in essence, flattening the histogram so that the distribution of colors in the image becomes more even.
Match
The Match mode modifies the source image based on the histogram from the reference image. It is used to
match two shots with different lighting conditions and exposures so that they will appear similar.
When selected, the Equalize and Match modes reveal the following controls.
Match/Equalize Luminance
This slider affects the degree to which the Color Corrector tool will attempt to affect the image based on its
luminance distribution. When this control is zero (the default), matching and equalization are applied to each
color channel independently and the luminance, or combined value of the three color channels, is not affec-
ted.
If this control has a positive value when Equalizing the image, the input image's luminance distribution will be
flattened before any color equalization is applied.
If this control has a positive value when the correction mode is set to Match, the luminance values of the input
are matched to the reference before any correction is applied to the R, G and B channels.
The luminance and RGB controls can have a cumulative effect, and generally they are not both set to full (1.0)
at the same time.
Lock Red/Green/Blue
When this checkbox is selected, color matching will be applied to all color channels equally. When the check-
box is not selected, individual controls for each channel will appear.
Equalize/Match Red, Green, Blue

The name of this control changes depending on whether the Equalize or Match modes have been selected.
The slider can be used to reduce the amount of correction applied to the image to equalize or match it. A
value of 1.0 causes the full effect of the equalize or match to be applied, whereas lower values moderate the
result.
8 Bit, 10 Bit, 16 Bit Buttons

This array of buttons determines the level of color fidelity used when sampling the image to produce the his-
togram. 10 Bit produces higher fidelity than 8 Bit, and 16 Bit produces higher fidelity than 10 bit.
Smooth Out Correction Curves

Often, color equalization and matching operations will introduce posterization in an image, which occurs
because gradients in the image have been expanded or compressed so that the dynamic range between
colors is not sufficient to display a smooth transition. This control can be used to smooth the correction curve,
blending some of the original histogram back into the result for a more even transition.
Snapshot Match
Click this button to take a freeze the current reference histogram, storing its current state as a Snapshot in
memory. If the reference histogram is not shapshot, the reference histogram is updated from frame to frame.
This can cause flickering and phasing of the correction as the tool tries to match a changing source to a chan-
ging reference.
Release Match
Click on this button to Release the current snapshot of the histogram and return to using the live reference
input.
Reset All Histogram Changes

Selecting this button will remove all changes made to the histogram, returning the controls to default and
setting the mode back to keep.

Color Tools
[CC] Color Tools
Color Corrector
Suppress Mode
Color Suppression provides a mechanism for removing an unwanted color component from the image. The
color wheel control is similar to that shown in the Colors section of the tool, but this one is surrounded by six
controls, each representing a specific color along the wheel.
To suppress a color in the selected range, click-drag the control that represents that color toward the center of
the color wheel. The closer the control is to the center, the more that color will be suppressed from the image.
Suppression Angle
Use the Suppression Angle control to rotate the controls on the suppression wheel and zero in on a specific
color.
Reset All Suppression

Clicking on this control resets the suppression colors to 1.0, the default value.
Ranges Tab
The Ranges Tab contains the controls used to specify which pixels in an image are considered to be shadows
and which are considered to be highlights. The midrange is always calculated as any pixels not already inclu-
ded in either the shadows or the highlights.
Result/Shadows/Midtones/Highlights
These buttons are used to select the color range displayed in the views. They help to visualize the actual pixels
that will be included in the range. When the Result button is selected, the image displayed by the color cor-
rector in the views will be that of the color corrected image. This is the default.
Selecting one of the other buttons will switch the display to a greyscale image showing which pixels are part
of the selected range. White pixels represent pixels that are considered to be part of the range and black
pixels are not included in the range. For example, choosing Shadows would show pixels considered to be sha-
dows as white and pixels that are not shadows as black. Mid grey pixels are only partly in the range and will
not receive the full effect of any color adjustments to that range.
Spline Display
The extent of the ranges is selected by manipulating the spline handles. There are four spline points, each with
one Bezier handle. The two handles at the top represent the start of the shadow and highlight ranges, where-
as the two at the bottom represent the end of the range. The Bezier handles are used to control the falloff.
The midtones range has no specific controls since its range is understood to be the space between the sha-
dow and the highlight ranges.
The X and Y text controls below the Spline Display can be used to enter precise positions for the selected
Bezier point or handle.
Channel
The Channel selection buttons shown in this tab can be used to examine the range of a specific color channel.
By default, Fusion displays the luminance channel when the color ranges are examined.
Output The Range You See Now As Final Render

Selecting this checkbox will cause the monochrome display of the range shown in the display views to be
output as the final render. Normally, the color tool will output the full RGBA image, even if the tool was left to
display one of the color ranges in the view instead. This control makes it possible to use the color corrector
tool to generate a ranges matte for use as an effect mask in other tools.
Preset Simple/Smooth Ranges

These two buttons can be used to return the spline ranges to either Smooth (default) or Simple (linear) set-
tings.

Color Tools
[CC] Color Tools
Color Corrector
Options Mode
Pre-Divide/Post Multiply
Selecting this option will divide the color channels by the value of the alpha before applying the color correc-
tion. After the color correction, the color values are re-multiplied by the alpha to produce a properly additive
image. This is crucial when performing an additive merge or when working with CG images generated against
black.
Histogram Proxy Scale

The Histogram Proxy Scale determines the level of precision used when creating and calculating histograms.
Lower values represent higher precision and higher values produce a rougher, generalized histogram.
Process Order
This menu is used to select whether adjustments to the image's gamma are applied before or after any chan-
ges made to the images levels.

Color Tools
[CCv] Color Tools
Color Curves
Description:
The Color Curves tool is an animatable spline-based tool for performing look up table (LUT) color manipulations. A separate spline is provided for each color channel. The effect can be anima-
ted or dissolved and can be applied to the image using RGB, YUV, YIQ, CMY or HLS color spaces.
The LUT view in the color corrector can be scaled using the + and - keys on the numeric keypad. The color curves LUT has full support for out of range values, pixels with color values above
1.0 or below 0.0.
The splines shown in this LUT view are also available from the spline editor, should a greater precision be required when adjusting the controls.
Controls
Mode
The Mode options changes between animated and dissolve modes. The default mode is static, where adjustments to
the curves are static. Setting the Mode provides a change spline for each channel, allowing the color curve to be anima-
ted over time.
Dissolve mode is essentially obsolete and is included for compatibility reasons only.
Color Space
The splines in the LUT view can represent color channels from a variety of Color Spaces. The default is Red, Green and
Blue. The options in this menu allow an alternate color space to be selected. A detailed description of the color spaces
available here can be found in the online reference documentation for the Color Space tool.

Use the Color Channel controls to select which channel's spline is currently active for editing. The labels of these cont-
rols will change to reflect the names of the channels for the current color space. Normally, they will read as Red, Green
and Blue. If the color curves tool is operating in YUV color space, they will read as Y, U and V instead.
These controls do not restrict the affect of the tool to a specific channel. They only select whether the spline for that
channel is editable. These controls are most often used to ensure that adding or moving points on one channel's spline
does not unintentionally affect a different channel's spline.
Spline Window
The Spline Window shows the curves for the individual channels. It is basically a miniature spline editor. In fact, the cur-
ves shown in this window can also be found and edited in the spline editor.
The spline window is a complex control with many options. For a detailed description of how it works, please consult
the Tool Controls chapter of the manual.
In And Out
Use the In and Out controls to manipulate the precise values of a selected point. To change a value, select a point and
enter the in/out values desired.
Pick
Click on the Pick button and select a color from an image in the display to automatically set keypoints on the spline for
the selected color. The new points will be drawn with a triangular shape and can only be moved vertically (if point is
locked, only the out value can change).
Points are only added to enabled splines. To add points only on a specific channel, disable the other channels before
making the selection.
One use for this technique is white balancing an image. Use the Pick control to select a pixel from the image that should
be pure grey. Adjust the points that appear so that the Out value is 0.5 to change the pixel colors to grey.
Use the context menu's Locked Pick Points option to unlock points created using the Pick option, converting them into
normal points.
Match Reference
Clicking on the Match Reference button will automatically set points on the curve to match an image provided in the
second (reference) input of the color curves tool.
Sample Reference
Clicking the Sample Reference button will sample the center scanline of the background image and create a LUT of its
color values
Number Of Samples On Match Curve

This slider determines how many points are used to match the curve to the range in the reference image.
Selecting this checkbox will cause the image's pixel values to be divided by the alpha values prior to the color correc-
tion, and then re-multiplied by the alpha value after the correction. This helps to avoid the creation of illegally additive
images, particularly around the edges of a blue/green key or when working with 3D rendered objects.
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Color Tools
[Clr] Color Tools
Color Gain
Description:
The Color Gain tool contains options for adjusting the gain, gamma, saturation and hue of the image. Many of the controls provided by the color gain tool are also found in the Color Correc-
tor tool, but this simpler tool may render more quickly. One feature that distinguishes the color gain tool from the color corrector is its balance controls. These can be used to adjust the tinting
of the colors in the high, mids and lows.
Gain Tab
Lock R/G/B
When selected, the Red, Green and Blue channel controls for each effect are combined into one slider. Alpha channel
effects remain separate.
Gain RGBA
The Gain RGBA controls multiply the values of the image channel in a linear fashion. All pixels are multiplied by the
same factor, but the effect will be larger on bright pixels and smaller on dark. Black pixels will not be changed (x * 0=0).
Lift RGBA
While Gain basically scales the color values around Black, Lift scales the color values around White. The pixel values are
multiplied by the value of this control. A Lift of 0.5 will make a pixel that is R0.0 G0.0 B0.0 into R0.5 G0.5, B0.5, while
leaving white pixels totally unaffected. Lift affects lower values more than it affects higher values so the effect will be
strongest in the midrange and lowrange of the image.
Gamma RGBA
The Gamma RGBA controls affect the brightness of the mid-range in the image. The affect of this tool is non-linear.
White and black pixels in the image are not affected when gamma is modified, whereas pure grays are affected most
by changes to this parameter. Large value changes to this control will tend to push mid-range pixels into black or white,
depending on the value used.
Pre-Divide / Post-Multiply
Selecting this checkbox will cause the image pixel values to be divided by the alpha values prior to the color correction,
and then re-multiplied by the alpha value after the correction. This helps to avoid the creation of illegally additive ima-
ges, particularly around the edges of a blue/green key or when working with 3D rendered objects.
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Color Tools
[Clr] Color Tools
Color Gain
Saturation Tab
RGB Saturation
This setting controls the intensity of the colors in the image channels. A value of 0.0 will strip all of the color out of an
image channel. Values greater than one will intensify the colors in the scene, pushing them toward primary colors.
Balance Tab
CMY Brightness Highs / Mids / Darks
This section of the color gain tool offers controls for adjusting the overall balance of a color channel. Independent color
and brightness controls are offered for the High, Mid and Dark ranges of the image.
Colors are grouped into opposing pairs from the two dominant color spaces. Red values can be pushed toward Cyan,
Green Values to Magenta and Blue to Yellow. Brightness can be raised or lowered for each of the channels.
By default, the balance sliders can be adjusted by -1 to +1, but values outside of this range can be entered manually to
increase the effect. A value of 0.0 for any slider indicates no change to the image channel. Positive and negative values
indicate that the balance of the image channel has been pushed toward one color or the other in the pair.
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Color Tools
[Clr] Color Tools
Color Gain
Hue Tab
High / Mid / Dark Hue
Use the Hue section of the color gain tool to shift the overall hue of the image, without affecting the brightness or satu-
ration. Independent control of the High, Mid and Dark ranges is offered by three sliders.
The following is the order of the hues in the RGB color space Red, Yellow, Green, Cyan, Blue, Magenta and Red
Values above 0 push the hue of the image toward the right (red turns to yellow). Values below 0 push the hue toward
the left (red turns to magenta). At -1.0 or 1.0, the hue completes the cycle and returns to its original value.
The default range of the hue sliders is -1.0 to +1.0. Values outside of this range can be entered manually.
Ranges Tab
The Ranges Tab contains the controls used to specify which pixels in an image are considered to be shadows and which
are considered to be highlights. The midrange is always calculated as any pixels not already included in either the sha-
dows or the highlights.
Spline Display
The extent of the ranges is selected by manipulating the spline handles. There are four spline points, each with one Be-
zier handle. The two handles at the top represent the start of the shadow and highlight ranges, whereas the two at the
bottom represent the end of the range. The Bezier handles are used to control the falloff.
The midtones range has no specific controls since its range is understood to be the space between the shadow and the
highlight ranges.
The X and Y text controls below the Spline Display can be used to enter precise positions for the selected Bezier point
or handle.
Preset Simple/Smooth Ranges

These two buttons can be used to return the spline ranges to either Smooth (default) or Simple (linear) settings.
1988-2014 eyeon software - www.eyeonline.com Color Gain 118

Color Tools
[CMx] Color Tools
Color Matrix
Description:
The ColorMatrix allows for a vast number of operations to modify values individually in the different color channels.
Controls
Update Lock
When this control is selected, Fusion will not render the tool. This is useful for setting up each value of the tool, then
turning Update Lock off in order to render it.
Matrix
This defines what type of operations actually take place.
The horizontal rows define the output values of the tool,
the vertical columns the input values.
The "add" column allows for simple adding of values to the individual color channels.
By default the output values are identical to the input values.
100% of the Red channel input is copied to the Red channel output.
100% of the Green channel input is copied to the Green channel output.
100% of the Blue channel input is copied to the Blue channel output.
100% of the Alpha channel input is copied to the Alpha channel output.
We can also write the default settings as mathematical equations

[R out] = 1 * [R in] + 0 * [G in] + 0 * [B in] + 0 * [A in] + 0
[G out] = 0 * [R in] + 1 * [G in] + 0 * [B in] + 0 * [A in] + 0
[B out] = 0 * [R in] + 0 * [G in] + 1 * [B in] + 0 * [A in] + 0
[A out] = 0 * [R in] + 0 * [G in] + 0 * [B in] + 1 * [A in] + 0
Invert
Enabling this option will invert the Matrix. Think of swapping channels around, doing other operations with different
tools and then copy and paste the original ColorMatrix and set it to invert to get your channels back to the original.
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Color Tools
[CMx] Color Tools
Color Matrix
Example 1 - Invert
If we want to do a simple invert or negative of the color values,
but keep our alpha channel as it is, the matrix would look like this
Observe the fact that we have to Add 1 to each channel to push the inverted values back into the positive numbers.
Let's follow this example step by step by viewing the waveform of a 32bit grayscale gradient
01) The original grayscale
02) RGB set to -1. The values get inverted but fall below 0.
03) Adding 1 to each channel keeps the inversion, but moves the values back into a positive range.
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Color Tools
[CMx] Color Tools
Color Matrix
Example 2 - Brightness per Channel

Let's influence the brightness of each channel individually
This subtracts 0.2 from the Red channel, adds 0.314 to the Green channel and adds 0.75 to the Blue channel whilst kee-
ping Alpha as it is.
Example 3 - Copying values

Of course we can also copy color values back and forth between individual channels.
Let's make the Red channel contain the luminance values of the image based on thirds
and the Green channel contain the luminance values based on the proper black-and-white conversion method, whereas
in the Blue channel we use a third method based on getting more information from Red and less from Blue.
We also lower the Blue channel's brightness by 0.1
and replace the Alpha Channel with the original Blue channel.
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Color Tools
[CS] Color Tools
Color Space
Description:
The Color Space tool provides the ability to work on an image in a variety of alternate color space formats. By default, Fusion uses the RGB color space, and most tools and displays interpret
the primary channels of an image as Red, Green and Blue.
Changing the color space from RGB will cause most images to look odd, as Fusion's display views will still interpret the primary channels as Red, Green and Blue. For example, viewing an
image converted to YUV in one of the display views will show the Y channel as Red, the U channel as Green and the V channel as Blue.
For this reason, most artists use two color space tools one to convert the image to the new color space and the other to convert back to RGB. Tools meant to affect the image while it is in the
alternate color space are placed between the two tools, and adjustments are made while viewing the output of the second color space tool.
Several elements of the Fusion interface refer to the RGB channels directly. The four checkboxes used to restrict the af-
fect of the tool to a single color channel are one example. When a conversion is applied to an image, the labels of these
elements remain R, G and B, but the values they represent are from the current color space. (Red is Hue, Green is Lumi-
nance, Blue is Saturation for a RGB to HLS conversion. The Alpha value is never changed by the color space conversion.)
Controls
Color Space Conversion
This button array has three options.
None
The color space tool has no effect on the image.
To Color
The input image will be converted to the color space selected in the Color Type control found below.
To RGB
The input image will be converted back to the RGB color space from the type selected in the Color Type control below
(for example, YUV to RGB).
Color Type
These buttons are used to select the color space conversion applied when the To Color conversion is selected.
HSV (Hue, Saturation And Value)

Each pixel in the HSV color space is described in terms of its Hue, Saturation and Value components. Value is defined as
the quality by which we distinguish a light color from a dark one or brightness. Decreasing saturation roughly corres-
ponds to adding white to a paint chip on a palette. Increasing value is roughly similar to adding black.
YUV (Luma, Blue Chroma And Red Chroma)

The YUV color space is used in the analog broadcast of PAL video. This format is often used to color correct images, due
to its familiarity to a large percentage of video engineers. Each pixel is described in terms of its Luminance, Blue Chroma
and Red Chroma components.
YIQ (Luma, In Phase And Quadrature)

The YIQ color space is used in the analog broadcast of NTSC video. This format is much rarer than YUV and almost
never seen in production. Each pixel is described in terms of its Luminance, Chroma (in-phase or red-cyan channel) and
Quadrature (magenta-green) components.
CMY (Cyan, Magenta And Yellow)

Although more common in print, the CMY format is often found in computer graphics from other software packages.
Each pixel is described in terms of its Cyan, Magenta and Yellow components. CMY is non-linear.
HLS (Hue, Luminance And Saturation)

Each pixel in the HLS color space is described in terms of its Hue, Luminance and Saturation components. The differen-
ces between HLS and HSV color spaces are minor.
XYZ (CIE Format)

This mode is used to convert a CIE XYZ image to and from RGB color spaces. CIE XYZ is a weighted space, rather than a
non-linear one, unlike the other available color spaces. Non-linear in this context means that equal changes in value at
different positions in the colour space may not necessarily produce the same magnitude of change visually to the eye.
Expressed simply, the CIE color space is a perceptual color system, with weighted values obtained from experiments
where subjects were asked to match an existing light source using three primary light sources.
This color space is most often used to perform gamut conversion and color space matching between image display
formats because it contains the entire gamut of perceivable colors.
Negative
The color channels are inverted.The color space remains RGBA.
BW
The image is converted to black and white. The contribution of each channel to the luminance of the image is adjus-
table via slider controls that appear when this option is selected. The default values of these sliders represent the usual
perceptual contribution of each channel to an images luminance. The color space of the image remains RGBA.
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Color Tools
[Gmt] Color Tools
Color Gamut
Description:
The Color Gamut Tool converts color from different gamuts to other color gamuts as well as removing or adding the appropriate gamma to entirely linearize incoming images.
Controls
Source Space
Source Space determines the input color space of the image. Leave this at "No Change" if you want to just add Gamma
using the Output Space control.
In Fusion 6.1 new options have been added here.
DCI-P3
The DCI-P3 color space is most commonly used in association with DLP projectors and is frequently
provided as a color space available with 2K DLP projectors, and as an emulation mode for 10 bit LCD
monitors such as the HP Dreamcolor. This color space is defined in the SMPTE-431-2 standard.
Custom
The custom gamut allows the artist to describe the color space according to CIE 1931 primaries and
white point, which are expressed as x\y co-ordinates, as well as by gamma, limit and slope. For
example, the DCI-P3 gamut mentioned above would have the following values if described as a
Custom color space.
Red Primary 0.68, 0.32
Green Primary 0.265, 0.69
Blue Primary 0.15, 0.06
White Point 0.314, 0.351
Gamma 2.6
Linear Limit 0.0313
Linear Slope 12.92
To understand how these controls work you could view the tool attached to a gradient Background in Waveform mode
and observe how different adjustments modify the output.
Output Space
Output Space is the converted gamut to the desired color space. Leave this at "No Change" if you want to just remove
Gamma using the Source Space control.
Remove/Add Gamma
Select these checkboxes to do the gamut conversion in a linear or non-linear gamma, or simply remove or add the
appropriate gamma values without changing the color space.
Pre-Divide / Post-Multiply
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Color Tools
[HCv] Color Tools
Hue Curves
Description:
The Hue Curves tool allows the artist to adjust the color in an image using a series of spline curves. Splines are provided to control the images Hue, Saturation and Luminance as well as each
individual color channel. An additional set of curves allow the artist to apply suppression to individual color channels.
The advantage of the Hue Curves tool over other color correction tools in Fusion is that the splines can be manipulated to restrict the tools effect to a very narrow portion of the image, or
expanded to include a wide ranging portion of the image. Additionally, these curves can be animated to follow changes in the image over time. Since the primary axis of the spline is defined
by the images Hue, it is much easier to isolate a specific color from the image for adjustment.
Controls
Mode
The Mode options changes between animated and dissolve modes. The default mode is static, where adjustments to
the curves are applied consistently over time. Setting the Mode to Animate or Dissolve allows for the color curve to be
animated over time.
Dissolve mode is essentially obsolete and is included for compatibility reasons only.
Color Channel Checkboxes

These checkboxes define which Splines are editable and are included in the Pick Color process.
Any number of activated splines can be edited simultaneously, however in most cases it's more convenient to have only
the currently modified spline active to avoid unwanted changes to other splines.
When using the Pick Color button a point will be created on all active splines, representing the selected color.
Spline Window
This Look Up Table (LUT) control is the main interface element of the Hue Curves tool which hosts the various splines. In
appearance the tool is very similar to the Color Curves tool, but in this case the horizontal
axis represents the images Hue, while the vertical axis represents the degree of adjustment.The Spline Window shows
the curves for the individual channels. It is basically a miniature spline editor. In fact, the curves shown in this window
can also be found and edited in the spline editor.
The spline curves for all components are initially flat, with key points placed horizontally at each of the
primary colors. From left to right these are Red, Yellow, Green, Cyan, Blue, and Magenta. Due to the
cyclical nature of the Hue gradient, the leftmost key point in each curve is connected to the rightmost
key point of the curve.
Right clicking in the LUT Control will display a context menu containing options for resetting the
curves, importing external curves, adjusting the smoothness of the selected key points and more.
For detailed information of how a Spline Control works in general, please consult the Tool Controls chapter of the ma-
nual.
In And Out
Use the In and Out controls to manipulate the precise values of a selected point. To change a value, select a point and
enter the in/out values desired.
Pick
Left clicking and dragging from the Pick Color button will change the current mouse cursor to an
eyedropper. While still holding down the left mouse button, drag the cursor to a display view to pick a
pixel from a displayed image. This will cause key points which are locked on the horizontal axis to
appear on the currently active curves. The key points will represent the position of the selected color on
the curve. Use the context menu's 'Lock Selected Points' toggle to unlock points and restore the option
of horizontal movement.
Points are only added to enabled splines. To add points only on a specific channel, disable the other channels before
making the selection.
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Color Tools
[OCD] Color Tools
OCIO CDLTransform
Description: Fusion supports the free Open Color IO workflow specified by Sony Imageworks.
In general, the color pipeline is made up from a set of color transformations defined by OCIO-specific config files,
commonly named with a .ocio extension, which allow to easily share color settings within or between facilities.
The path to the config file to be used is normally specified by a user-created environment variable called OCIO,
though some tools allow overriding this.
If no other *.ocio config files are located, the DefaultConfig.ocio file in Fusions LUTs: directory will be used.
For in-depth documentation of the formats internals, please refer to the official pages on opencolorio.org.
The OCIO CDLTransform allows to create, save, load, and apply CDL files.
Controls
Operation
Toggles between File and Controls.
In File-Mode, standard ASC-CDL files can be loaded. In Controls mode, manual adjustments can be made to Slope, Offset,
Power and Saturation, and the CDL file can be saved.
Direction
Toggles between Forward and Reverse.
Forward applies the corrections specified in the tool. while reverse tries to remove those corrections.
Keep in mind that not every color-correction can be undone.
Imagine all slope-values have been set to 0.0, resulting in a fully black image.
Reversing that operation is not possible, neither mathematically nor visually.
Slope
Multiplies the color-values.
This is the same as Gain in the BrightnessContrast tool.
Offset
Adds to the color-values.
This is the same as Brightness in the BrightnessContrast tool.
Power
Applies a Gamma-Curve.
This is an inverse of the Gamma function of the BrightnessContrast tool.
Saturation
Enhances or decreases the color-saturation.
This works the same as Saturation in the BrightnessContrast tool.
Export File
Allows to export the settings as a CDL file.
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Color Tools
[OCC] Color Tools
OCIO ColorSpace
The OCIOColorSpace allows for sophisticated color space conversions, based on an OCIO Config File.
Sample Configs can be obtained from opencolorio.org/downloads.html
The functionality of the OCIOColorSpace tool is also available as a ViewLUT tool from the ViewLUT Menu.
Controls
OCIO Config
Displays a file-open dialog to load the desired Config File.
Source Space
Based on the Config File, the available source color spaces will be listed here.
The content of this list is solely based on the loaded profile and hence can vary immensely.
Output Space
Based on the Config File, the available output color spaces will be listed here.
The content of this list is solely based on the loaded profile and hence can vary immensely.
The ViewLUT version of the tool
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Color Tools
[OCF] Color Tools
OCIO FileTransform
The OCIOFileTransform allows to load and apply a variety of Look Up Tables.
The functionality of the OCIOFileTransform tool is also available as a ViewLUT tool from the ViewLUT Menu.
Controls
LUT File
Displays a file-open dialog to load the desired LUT.
CCC ID
Direction
Toggles between Forward and Reverse.
Forward applies the corrections specified in the tool. while reverse tries to remove those corrections.
Keep in mind that not every color-correction can be undone.
Imagine all slope-values have been set to 0.0, resulting in a fully black image.
Reversing that operation is not possible, neither mathematically nor visually.
Interpolation
Allows to select the color-interpolation to achieve the best quality/rendertime ratio.
The ViewLUT version of the tool
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Color Tools
[SCv] Misc Tools
Set Canvas Color
Description:
Set Canvas Color is used to set the color of the workspace - all the area beyond the defined pixels within an image (the DoD). This area usually extends to infinity. By default the canvas color
used is Black / no Alpha (transparent).
Some tools may change an image's canvas color, e.g. inverting a mask will change the mask's canvas from black to white. Set Canvas Color allows you to control and override this.
Controls Tab
Color Picker
Use these controls to adjust the Color and the Alpha-value for the image's canvas.
It defaults to Black with zero Alpha.
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Color Tools
[WB] Color Tools
White Balance
Description:
The White Balance Tool can be used to automatically remove color casts in the image caused by the incorrect setup of a camera, problems in a camera's CCD or bad lighting conditions. Cor-
rection can be done by selecting a color temperature, or by choosing a neutral color from the original image that exhibits the color cast to be corrected.
Important When picking neutral colors using the Custom method, make sure you are picking from the source image, not the results of the White Balance tool. This ensures that the image
doesn't change while you are still picking, and that the White Balance tool gets an accurate idea of the original colors it needs to correct.
Balance Tab
Color Space
Use this menu to select the Color Space of the source image, if it is known. This can make the correction more accurate
since the tool will be able to take the natural gamma of the color space into account as part of the correction. If the
color space that the image uses is unknown, leave this menu at its default value.
Method
The white balance tool can operate using one of two methods, a Custom method and a color Temperature method.
Custom
The Custom method requires the selection of a pixel from the scene that should have been pure grey.
The tool uses this information to calculate the color correction required to convert the pixel so that it actually is grey.
When that correction is applied to the entire image, it generally white balances the entire shot.
Temperature
The color Temperature method requires that the actual color temperature of the shot be specified.
Lock Black/Mid/White
This checkbox locks the Black, Mid and White points together so that the entire image is affected equally. Unchecking
the control will provide individual controls for white balancing each range separately. This control affects both methods
equally.
Black/Mid/White Reference
These controls only appear if the Custom method is selected. They are used to select a color from a pixel in the source
image. The white balance tool will color correct the image so that the selected color is transformed to the color set in
the Result color picker below. Generally, this is grey. A color that is supposed to be pure grey but is not truly grey for
one reason or another should be selected.
If the Lock Black/Mid/White checkbox is deselected, different references can be selected for each color range.
For example, try to select a pixel for the black and white references that is not clipped in any of the color channels. In
the high end, an example would be a pixel that is light pink with values of 255, 240, 240. The pixel is saturated/clipped
in the red, even though the colour is not white. Similarly, a really dark blue-grey pixel might be 0, 2, 10. It is clipped in
Red as well, even though it is not black.
Neither example would be a good choice as a reference pixel because there would not be enough headroom left for the
white balance tool.
Black / Mid / White Result

These controls only appears if the Custom method is selected. They are used to select the color to which the tool will
balance the reference color. This generally defaults to pure, midrange grey.
If the Lock Black/Mid/White checkbox is deselected, different results can be selected for each color range.
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Color Tools
[WB] Color Tools
White Balance
Temperatur control
Temperature Reference
Use this control to set the color Temperature of the source image. If the Lock Black / Mid / White checkbox is deselec-
ted, different references can be selected for each color range.
Temperature Result
Use this control to set the target color temperature for the image. If the Lock Black / Mid / White checkbox is deselec-
ted, different results can be selected for each color range.
Use Gamma
This checkbox selects whether the tool will take the gamma of the image into account when applying the correction,
using the default gamma of the color space selected in the menu at the top of the tab.
Ranges Tab
Ranges
Use the controls in the Ranges Tab to customize the range of pixels in the image considered to be shadows, midtones
and highlights by the tool. The use of the controls in this tab is documented in detail in the Color Corrector tools docu-
mentation.
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Composite Tools
Dissolve Merge

Composite Tools
[DX] Composite Tools
Dissolve
Description:
The Dissolve Tool is used to mix two images together, providing a gradual transition between two clips. A slider controls the amount of mix between the foreground and background layers.
Dissolves are commonly used to transition between one clip and another and are a very common effect in editing. The Gradient Wipe setting allows arbitrary animated dissolve patterns based
on the luminance of a third input use this with geometric shapes, fire, water ripples, rain, Perlin noise, particle systems or a video clip of your choice to get a variety of unique and creative
transitions. Soft-edged effect masks may also be used to add to the possible effects.
One useful attribute of the Dissolve tool is that, unlike all other tools in Fusion, it does not require a valid Background at all times, but will output either Background or Foreground as approp-
riate. This allows you to use it as an easy automatic switcher tool. You may connect clips to both Background and Foreground, use the Background/Foreground control to determine priority of
which is output, and if one clip terminates early, the other is automatically output instead. Animating the Background/
Foreground control allows manual switching.
The tool tile provides three image inputs Foreground, Background and Gradient Map. The Gradient Map input is requi-
red only when Gradient Wipe is selected. The Dissolve tool works best when both foreground and background inputs
are images with the same resolution. If input images of different sizes are mixed together, the output size will be large
enough to cover both images. If full Foreground or Background is selected, that image is output untouched, at its native
size. Animating the Foreground/Background slider in this case may cause undesirable resolution changes.
For example, attempt to dissolve between a NTSC image (background) and a PAL image (foreground) and the output
of the Dissolve tool will be NTSC when the slider is set to full background. It will suddenly jump to PAL when set to full
foreground. Mix between FG and BG and the resolution of the output image will be the largest dimension from each
image in this case the output will be 720 x 576 (PAL sized).
It is recommended to ensure all inputs of the Dissolve tool are the same resolution and pixel aspect.
Controls
Operation
The Operation drop-down menu contains one of seven different methods for mixing the foreground and
background inputs. The two images are mixed together using the value of the Background/Foreground slider
to determine the percentage each image contributes.
Dissolve
The standard Dissolve mode is the equivalent of a cross dissolve, one clip fades out as another clip fades in.
Additive Dissolve
Similar in look to a standard film dissolve, an additive dissolve adds the second clip and then fades out the
first one.
Erode
The Erode method transitions between the two images by growing the darkest areas of the background image
to reveal the foreground image. The effect appears similar to a film strip burning out.
Random Dissolve
A randomly generated dot pattern is used to perform the mix of the images.
Random Noise Dissolve

A moving random dot pattern is used to perform the mix of the images.
Gradient Wipe
The dissolve is controlled by the luminance values of the image in the Gradient Map input. The edges of this
dissolve can be softened. The density and the color of the border can be adjusted independently.
SMPTE Wipe
The SMPTE Wipe is similar to the basic effect wipes found on many video effects switchers. There is a horizon-
tal wipe and a vertical wipe provided. The wipes can have soft edges and borders added. The density and the
color of the border can be adjusted independently.
Background / Foreground
This control determines whether the output is the background image, the foreground image, or a mix
between the two. The type of mix is determined by the Operation control. If one of the input images is not
currently available, the other one will be output regardless of the setting of this slider.
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Composite Tools
[DX] Composite Tools
Dissolve
Gradient / SMPTE Wipe controls
The following controls appear only when Gradient Wipe or SMPTE Wipe are selected.
Wipe Style
(SMPTE Wipe only) The drop down list allows the selection of two wipe styles Horizontal - Left to Right and
Vertical - Top To Bottom. The directions of the wipes can be reversed by using the Invert Wipe checkbox.
Invert Wipe
(SMPTE Wipe only) When checked, the direction of the wipe will be reversed.
Softness
Use this control to soften the edge of the transition.
Border
Select the Border to enable coloring of the transitions edge and to reveal the associated controls. The effect is
to create a border around the transition edge.
Border Softness
The Border Softness slider controls the width and density of the border. Higher values will create a denser
border and lower values will create a thinner one.
Border Color
Use Border Color to select the color used in the border.
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Composite Tools
[Mrg] Composite Tools
Merge
Description:
The Merge Tool combines two images based on the alpha (opacity) channel associated with the one in front. This tool takes two inputs a background and a foreground image. The operation
mode of the merge determines what method is used to combine the images.
Instead of providing the artist with a dozen tools for each different method used to combine images, Fusion uses a single merge tool that supports the standard over, in, held out, atop and
xor methods for compositing images, as well as many common blending modes like screen, dissolve, multiply and overlay.
The merge tool can handle both additive (premultiplied) and subtractive (non-premultiplied) compositing. Use merge to blend between the additive and subtractive results, providing solu-
tions for some otherwise tricky problems.
This tool can also be used to composite images based on information from the Z-buffer channel of the images, if availa-
ble. Rather than relying on the foreground and background order to determine layer order, Z-merging compares the
depth value of each pixel to determine which is the foreground pixel and which is the background pixel.
Merge Tab
Center X And Y
This control determines the position of the foreground image in the composite. The default is 0.5, 0.5, which
centers the foreground image in the exact center of the background image. The value shown is always the
actual position in normalized coordinates, multiplied by the reference size. See below for a description of the
reference size controls.
Size
Use this control to increase or decrease the size of the foreground image before it is composited over the
background. The range of values for this slider is 0.0 to 5.0, but any value greater than 0 can be entered manu-
ally. A size of 1.0 gives a pixel-for-pixel composition, where a single pixel in the foreground is the same size as
a single pixel in the background.
Angle
Use this control to rotate the foreground image before it is combined with the background.
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Composite Tools
Merge
Apply Modes
The Apply Mode determines the math used when blending or combining the foreground and background
pixels.
Normal
The default merge mode uses the foreground's alpha channel as a mask to determine which pixels are trans-
parent and which are not. When this is active, another menu shows possible operations, including over, in,
held out, atop and xor.
Screen
Screen merges the images based on a multiplication of their color values. The alpha channel is ignored and
layer order becomes irrelevant. The resulting color is always lighter. Screening with black leaves the color un-
changed, whereas screening with white will always produce white. This effect creates a similar look to projec-
ting several film frames onto the same surface.
Dissolve
Dissolve mixes two image sequences together. It uses a calculated average of the two images to perform the
mixture.
Multiply
Multiply the values of a color channel. This will give the appearance of darkening the image as the values are
scaled from 0 to 1. White has a value of one so the result would be the same. Grey has a value of 0.5 so the
result would be a darker image or, in other words, an image half as bright.
Overlay
Overlay multiplies or screens the color values of the foreground image, depending on the color values of the
background image. Patterns or colors overlay the existing pixels while preserving the highlights and shadows
of the color values of the background image. The background image is not replaced but is mixed with the
foreground image to reflect the original lightness or darkness of the background image.
Soft Light
Soft Light darkens or lightens the foreground image, depending on the color values of the background image.
The effect is similar to shining a diffused spotlight on the image.
Hard Light
Hard Light multiplies or screens the color values of the foreground image, depending on the color values of
the background image. The effect is similar to shining a harsh spotlight on the image.
Color Dodge
Color Dodge uses the foreground's color values to brighten the background image. This is similar to the pho-
tographical practice of dodging by reducing the exposure of an area of a print.
Color Burn
Color Burn uses the foreground's color values to darken the background image. This is similar to the photo-
graphical practice of burning by increasing the exposure of an area of a print.
Darken
Darken looks at the color information in each channel and selects the background or foreground images' co-
lor value, whichever is darker as the result color. Pixels lighter than the merged colors are replaced and pixels
darker than the merged color do not change.
Lighten
Lighten looks at the color information in each channel and selects the background image's or foreground
image's color values, whichever is lighter as the result color value. Pixels darker than the merged color are
replaced and pixels lighter than the merged color do not change.
Difference
Difference looks at the color information in each channel and subtracts the foreground color values from the
background color values or the background from the foreground, depending on which has the greater bright-
ness value. Merging with white inverts the color. Merging with black produces no change.
Exclusion
Exclusion creates an effect similar to but lower in contrast than the difference mode. Merging with white
inverts the base color values. Merging with black produces no change.
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Composite Tools
Merge
Hue
Hue creates a result color with the luminance and saturation of the background color values and the hue of the fore-
ground color values.
Saturation
Saturation creates a result color with the luminance and hue of the base color and the saturation of the blend color.
Color
Color creates a result color with the luminance of the background color value and the hue and saturation of the fore-
ground. This preserves the gray levels in the image and is useful for coloring monochrome images.
Luminosity
Luminosity creates a result color with the hue and saturation of the background color values and the luminance of the
foreground color values. This mode creates an inverse effect from that of the color mode.
Operator Modes
This menu is used to select the operation mode of the merge. Changing the Operation Mode changes how the fore-
ground and background are combined to produce a result. The menu will only be visible when the merge tools Apply
mode is set to Normal.
Versions earlier than Fusion5 would always use the Over operation.
For an excellent description of the math underlying the operation modes, read Compositing Digital Images, Porter, T.,
and T. Duff, SIGGRAPH 84 proceedings, pages 253-259. Essentially, the math is as described below. Note that some
modes not listed in the Operator dropdown (under, in, held in, below) are easily obtained by swapping the foreground
and background inputs (with Ctrl+W) and choosing a corresponding mode.
The formula used to combine pixels in the merge is always fg * x + bg * y. The different operations determine exactly
what x and y are, as shown in the description for each mode.
Over
The Over mode adds the FG layer to the BG layer by replacing the pixels in the BG with the pixels from the Z wherever
the FGs alpha channel is greater than 1.
x = 1, y = 1-[foreground alpha]
In
The In mode multiplies the alpha channel of the BG input against the pixels in the FG. The color channels of the FG in-
put are ignored. Only pixels from the FG are seen in the final output. This essentially clips the FG using the mask from
the BG.
x = [background alpha], y = 0
Held Out
Held Out is essentially the opposite of the In operation. The pixels in the FG image are multiplied against the inverted
alpha channel of the BG image. Accomplish exactly the same result using the In operation and a Matte Control tool to
invert the matte channel of the BG image.
x = 1-[background alpha], y = 0
ATop
ATop places the FG over the BG only where the BG has a matte.
x = [background alpha], y = 1-[foreground alpha]
XOr
XOr combines the FG with the BG wherever either the FG or the BG have a matte, but never where both have a matte.
x = 1-[background alpha], y = 1-[foreground alpha]

Composite Tools
Merge
Operator Modes
Subtractive And Additive
This slider controls whether Fusion performs an Additive or a Subtractive merge. An additive merge assumes that the
foreground image is pre-multiplied, meaning that the pixels in the color channels have been multiplied by the pixels
in the alpha channel. The result is that transparent pixels are always black, since any number multiplied by 0 is always
going to be 0.
When the merge tool can assume the image is pre-multiplied, it can perform an additive merge. This obscures the back-
ground (by multiplying with the inverse of the foreground alpha), then simply adds the pixels from the foreground.
If the images are not pre-multiplied then usually all that is required is a subtractive merge. This method is similar to
additive, but the foreground image is first multiplied by its own alpha, to eliminate any background pixels outside the
alpha area.
Fusion defaults to Additive merging for most operations, assuming that the images are pre-multiplied. Using Subtracti-
ve merging on a pre-multiplied image may result in darker edges, whereas using Additive merging with a non-premulti-
plied image will cause any non-black area outside the foreground's alpha to be added to the result.
Although the Additive/Subtractive option could easily have been a checkbox to select one mode or another, Fusion al-
lows for blending between the additive and subtractive modes, an operation that can occasionally be useful for dealing
with problem images.
Alpha Gain
Alpha Gain linearly scales the values of the foreground's alpha channel. In subtractive merges, this controls the densi-
ty of the composite, similarly to Blend. In additive merges, this effectively reduces the amount that the background is
obscured by, thus brightening the overall result. In an additive merge with Alpha Gain set to 0.0, the foreground pixels
are simply added to the background.
Burn In
The Burn In control adjusts the amount of alpha used to darken the background, without affecting the amount of
foreground added in. At 0.0, the merge behaves like a straight alpha blend, whereas at 1.0, the foreground is effectively
added onto the background (after alpha multiplication if in Subtractive mode).
This gives the effect of the foreground image brightening the background image, as with Alpha Gain. In fact, for additi-
ve merges, increasing the Burn In gives an identical result to decreasing Alpha Gain.

Composite Tools
Merge
Filter Modes
Nearest Neighbor
This skips or duplicates pixels as needed. This produces the fastest but crudest results.
Box
This is a simple interpolation resize of the image.
Linear
This uses a simplistic filter, which produces relatively clean and fast results.
Quadratic
This filter produces a nominal result. It offers a good compromise between speed and quality.
Cubic
This produces better results with continuous tone images but is slower than Bi-Cubic. If the images have fine detail in
them, the results may be blurrier than desired.
Catmull-Rom
This produces good results with continuous tone images which are resized down. Produces sharp results with finely
detailed images.
Gaussian
This is very similar in speed and quality to Bi-Cubic.
Mitchell
This is similar to Catmull-Rom but produces better results with finely detailed images. It is slower than Catmull-Rom.
Lanczos
This is very similar to Mitchell and Catmull-Rom but is a little cleaner and also slower.
Sinc
This is an advanced filter that produces very sharp, detailed results, however, it may produce visible 'ringing' in some
situations.
Bessel
This is similar to the Sinc filter but may be slightly faster.
Window Method
Some filters, such as Sinc and Bessel, require an infinite number of pixels to calculate exactly. To speed up this operati-
on, a windowing function is used to approximate the filter and limit the number of pixels required. This control appears
when a filter that requires windowing is selected.
Hanning
This is a simple tapered window.
Hamming
Hamming is a slightly tweaked version of Hanning.
Blackman
A window with a more sharply tapered falloff.
Kaiser
A more complex window, with results between Hamming and Blackman.
Most of these filters are useful only when making an image larger. When shrinking images, it is com-
mon to use the Bi-Linear filter, however, the Catmull-Rom filter will apply some sharpening to the
results and may be useful for preserving detail when scaling down an image.
Different Resize Filters. From left to right:

Nearest Neighbor, Box, Linear, Quadratic, Cubic, Catmull-Rom, Gaussian, Mitchell, Lanczos, Sinc, Bessel

Composite Tools
Merge
Blend
This is a cloned instance of the Blend slider in the common controls tab. Changes made to this control are simultane-
ously made to the one in the common controls.
The Blend slider mixes the result of the tool with its input, blending back the effect at any value less than 1.0. In this case
it will blend the background with the merged result.
Invert Transform
Select the Invert Transform control to invert any position, rotation or scaling transformation. This option is useful when
connecting the merge to the position of a tracker for the purpose of match moving.
Flatten Transform
The Flatten Transform option prevents this tool from concatenating its transformation with subsequent tools. The tool
may still concatenate transforms from its input but it will not concatenate its transformation with the tool at its output.
See the Transformations chapter earlier in this manual for details on concatenated transformation.
Reference Size
The controls under the Reference Size reveal do not directly affect the image. Instead they allow you to control how
Fusion represents the position of the merge tool's center.
Normally, coordinates are represented as values between 0 and 1, where 1 is a distance equal to the full width or height
of the image. This allows for resolution independence, because the size of the image can be changed without having to
change the value of the center.
One disadvantage to this approach is that it complicates making pixel accurate adjustments to an image. To demonst-
rate, imagine an image that is 100 x 100 pixels in size. To move the center of the foreground element to the right by 5
pixels, we would change the X value of the merge center from 0.5, 0.5 to 0.55, 0.5. We know the change must be 0.05
because 5/100 = 0.05.
If you specify the dimensions of the background image in the Reference Size controls, this changes the way the Center
control values are displayed so that it shows the actual pixel positions in its X and Y fields.
Extending the example, set the width and height to 100 each and the center will now be shown as 50, 50, and we would
move it 5 pixels toward the right by entering 55, 50.
Internally, the merge tool still stores this value as a number between 0 to 1 and, if the center control's value were to be
queried via scripting or the center control were to be published for use by other tools, the original normalized value
would be retrieved. The change is only visible in the value shown for merge center in the tool control.

Select this to force the merge to use the compositions current frame format settings to set the reference width and
reference height values.
Width And Height

Set these sliders to the width and height of the image to change the way that Fusion displays the values of the merge
tools center control.
Channels Tab
Perform Depth Merge
When checked, the Z-buffer channel of both images will be used to determine the composite order. Alpha channels are
still used for transparency, but the values of the Z-buffer channel will determine the ordering of image elements. If a Z-
buffer channel is not available for either image, the setting of this checkbox will be ignored, and no depth compositing
will take place.
Depth merging is off by default. If an image has an associated Z-buffer channel, and that channel is not to be used to
perform a depth merge, turn this checkbox off.
Foreground Z-Offset
This slider sets an offset applied to the foreground image's Z value. Click the Pick button to pick a value from a dis-
played image's Z-channel, or enter a value using the slider or input boxes. Raising the value causes the foreground
image's Z-buffer to be offset further away along the Z-axis, whereas lowering the value causes the foreground to move
closer.
Subtractive And Additive

When Z-compositing, it is possible for image pixels from the background to be composited in the foreground of the
output because the Z-buffer for that pixel is closer than the Z of the foreground pixel. This slider controls whether these
pixels are merged in an additive or a subtractive mode, in exactly the same way as the comparable slider in the Merge
tab.
When merged over a background of a different color, the original background will still be visible in the semi-transparent
areas. An additive merge will maintain the transparencies of the image but will add their values to the background.

Creator Tools
Background Day Sky Fast Noise Mandelbrot Plasma
Text Plus

Creator Tools
[BG] Creator Tools
Background
Description:
The Background tool can be used to produce anything from simple color backgrounds to complex loopable gradients.
Color Tab
Mode
This control is used to select the mode used by the background tool when the image is generated. Four selec-
tions are available.
Solid Color
This default creates a single color image.
Horizontal
This creates a two color horizontal gradation.
Vertical
This creates a two color vertical gradation.
Four Corner
This creates a four color corner gradation.
Gradient
This creates a background from a custom gradient.
Color
These controls are used to select the color of the Background tool. Depending on the mode selected, one to
four color controls will be displayed to create linear color ramp backdrops. Select one and pick a color from
the preset menu or create them. Alternatively, enter values in RGB via the keyboard by clicking in the values
box and typing in the value. Each color has its own alpha value slider to adjust the transparency of each color.
Custom Gradient Controls

The Custom Gradient Controls that appear are described in depth in the Tool Controls chapter of this manual.
Consult this chapter for details on setting up a custom gradient for use in the background tool.
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Creator Tools
[BG] Creator Tools
Background
Image Tab
The controls in this tab are used to set the resolution, color depth and pixel aspect of the image produced by
the tool.
Process Mode
Use this menu control to select the fields processing mode used by Fusion to render changes to the image.
The default option is determined by the Has Fields checkbox control in the Frame Format Preferences. For
more information on fields processing, consult the Frame Formats chapter.
Global In And Out
Use this control to specify the position of this tool within the project. Use Global In to specify on which frame
that the clip starts and Global Out to specify on which frame this clip ends (inclusive) within the projects
Global Range.
The tool will not produce an image on frames outside of this range.

When this checkbox is selected, the width, height and pixel aspect of the image created by the tool will be
locked to values defined in the compositions Frame Format preferences. If the Frame Format preferences
change, the resolution of the image produced by the tool will change to match. Disabling this option can be
useful to build a composition at a different resolution than the eventual target resolution for the final render.
Width / Height
This pair of controls is used to set the Width and Height dimensions of the image to be created by the tool.
Pixel Aspect
This controls is used to specify the Pixel Aspect ratio of the created images. An aspect ratio of 1:1 would gene-
rate a square pixel with the same dimensions on either side (like a computer display monitor) and an aspect of
0.9:1 would create a slightly rectangular pixel (like an NTSC monitor).
Depth
The Depth button array is used to set the pixel color depth of the image created by the creator tool. 32bit
pixels require 4 times the memory of 8bit pixels, but have far greater color accuracy. Float pixels allow high
dynamic range values outside the normal 0..1 range, for representing colours that are brighter than white or
darker than black. See the Frame Format chapter for more details.
Right-click on the Width,Height or Pixel Aspect controls to display a menu listing the file formats defined in the preferen-
ces Frame Format tab. Selecting any of the listed options will set the width, height and pixel aspect to the values for that
format accordingly.
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Creator Tools
[DS] Creator Tools
Day Sky
Description:
The DaySky generator is a practical implementation of the research paper [http//www.cs.utah.edu/vissim/papers/sunsky/sunsky.pdf A Practical Analytical Model for Daylight] by Preetham,
Shirley, and Smits. A copy of the original paper can be found at the [http//www.cs.utah.edu/vissim/papers/sunsky/ website for the Visual Simulation Group] at the University of Utah.
This tool aims to produce a simulation of the daylight produced at a specific time and location on the earth, and generate a high dynamic range image which represents a map of that light. It
is not a sky generator, although it could be combined with a cloud generator or noise tool to produce one.
Controls Tab
Latitude, Longitude
Use these sliders to specify the Latitude and Longitude used to create the Day Sky simulation.
Day, Month, Time

Use these controls to specify the Day, Month and Time for the DaySky simulation.
Turbidity
Turbidity causes light to be scattered and absorbed rather than transmitted in straight lines through the simu-
lation. Increasing the turbidity will give the sky simulation a murky feeling, as if smoke or atmospheric haze
were present.
Do Tone Mapping
Deselect this checkbox to disable any tone mapping applied to the simulation. Since the simulation is cal-
culated in 32 bit floating point color space, it generates color values well above 1.0 and well below 0.0. Tone
Mapping is a process that takes the full dynamic range of the resulting simulation and compresses the data
into the desired exposure range while attempting to preserve as much detail from the highlights and shadows
as possible.
Generally this option should only be deselected if the resulting image will later be color corrected as part of a
floating point color pipeline.
Exposure
Use this control to select the exposure used for Tone Mapping.
Advanced Tab
Horizon Brightness
Use this control to adjust the brightness of the horizon relative to the sky.
Luminance Gradient
Use this control to adjust the width of the gradient seperating the horizon from the sky.
Circumsolar Region Intensity

Use this control to adjust the intensity or brightness of the sky nearest to the sun.
Circumsolar Region Width

Use this control to adjust the width or size of the area in the sky affected by the sun.
Backscattered Light
Use this control to increase or decrease the amount of backscatter light in the simulation.
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Creator Tools
[DS] Creator Tools
Day Sky
Image Tab
the tool.
Process Mode
Global In And Out
Global Range.

Width / Height
Pixel Aspect
Depth
format accordingly.
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Creator Tools
[FN] Creator Tools
Fast Noise
Description:
The Fast Noise tool is a very fast and flexible Perlin Noise generator. It can be useful for a wide range of effects, from clouds and swirling fog to waves, water caustics, stylised fire and smoke
and other organic textures. It is also invaluable as a noise source for other effects, such as heat shimmer, particle systems and dirtiness maps.
Noise Tab
Discontinuous
Normally the noise function interpolates between values to create a smooth continuous gradient of results.
Enable this checkbox to create hard discontinuity lines along some of the noise contours. The result will be a
dramatically different effect.
Inverted
Select this checkbox to invert the noise, creating a negative image of the original pattern. This is most effecti-
ve when Discontinuous is also enabled.
Center
Use the center coordinate control to pan and move the noise pattern.
Detail
Increase the value of this slider to produce a greater level of detail in the noise result. Larger values add more
layers of increasingly detailed noise without affecting the overall pattern. High values take longer to render
but can produce a more natural result.
Brightness
This control adjusts the overall brightness of the noise map, before any gradient color mapping is applied. In
Gradient mode, this has a similar effect to the Offset control.
Contrast
This control increases or decreases the overall contrast of the noise map, prior to any gradient colour map-
ping. It can exaggerate the effect of the noise, and widen the range of colors applied in Gradient mode.
Lock And Scale X/Y

The size of the noise map can be adjusted using the Scale slider, changing it from gentle variations over the
whole image to a tighter overall texture effect. The scale slider can be separated into independent X and Y
axis scale sliders by clicking on the Lock X/Y checkbox immediately above, which can be useful for a brushed-
metal effect.
Angle
Use the Angle control to rotate the noise pattern.
Seethe
Adjust this thumbwheel control to interpolate the noise map against a different noise map. This will cause a
crawling shift in the noise, like it was drifting or flowing. This control must be animated to affect the gradient
over time, or you can use the Seethe Rate control below.
Seethe Rate
As with the Seethe control above, the Seethe Rate also causes the noise map to evolve and change. The
Seethe Rate defines the rate at which the noise changes each frame, causing an animated drift in the noise
automatically, without the need for spline animation.
Color Tab
Two Color
A simple two color gradient is used to color the noise map. The noise function will smoothly transition from
the first color into the second.
Gradient
The advanced gradient control in Fusion is used to provide much more control over the color gradient used
with the noise map. The controls that appear are when this mode is selected are described in depth in the
Tool Controls chapter of this manual. Consult this chapter for details on setting up a custom gradient for use
in the Fast Noise tool.
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Creator Tools
[FN] Creator Tools
Fast Noise
Image Tab
the tool.
Process Mode
Global In And Out
Global Range.

Width / Height
Pixel Aspect
Depth
format accordingly.
Mask map inputs

These external connections allow you to use masks to control the value of the noise Detail and Brightness
controls individually for each pixel. This can allow some interesting and creative effects.
Noise Detail Map
A soft-edged mask connected to the Noise Detail Map will give a flat noise map (zero detail) where the mask
is black, and full detail where it is white, with intermediate values smoothly reducing in detail. It is applied
before any gradient color mapping. This can be very helpful for applying maximum noise detail in a specific
area, while smoothly falling off elsewhere.
Noise Brightness Map
A mask connected to this input can be used to control the noise map completely, such as boosting it in cer-
tain areas, combining it with other textures, or if Detail is set to 0, replacing the perlin noise map altogether.
1988-2014 eyeon software - www.eyeonline.com Fast Noise 146

Creator Tools
[Man] Creator Tools
Mandelbrot
Description:
This tool creates an image pattern based on the Mandelbrot fractal theory set.
Generation Tab
Position X And Y
This designate the image's horizontal and vertical position or seed point.
Zoom
Zoom magnifies the pattern in or out. Every magnification is recalculated so that there is no practical limit to
the zoom.
Escape Limit
Defines a point where the calculation of the iteration is aborted. Low values lead to blurry halos.
Iterations
This determines the repetitiveness of the set. When animated, it simulates a growing of the set.
Rotation
This rotates the pattern. Every new angle requires recalculation of the image.
Color Tab
Grad Method
Use this control to determine the type of gradation applied at the borders of the pattern.
Continuous Potential
This causes the edges of the pattern to blend to the background color.
Iterations
This causes the edges of the pattern to be solid.
Gradient Curve
This affects the width of the gradation from the pattern to the background color.
R/G/B/A Phase/Repetitions
Set the color values of the pattern generators.
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Creator Tools
[Man] Creator Tools
Mandelbrot
Image Tab
the tool.
Process Mode
Global In And Out
Global Range.

Width / Height
Pixel Aspect
Depth
format accordingly.
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Creator Tools
[Plas] Creator Tools
Plasma
Description:
This background generation tool uses four circular patterns to generate images similar to Plasma. It is useful as a deforming pattern for the shadow and deform tools and to create a variety of
other useful shapes and patterns. See also the Fast Noise tool.
Circles Tab
Scale
The Scale control is used to adjust the size of the pattern created.
Operation
The options in this menu determine the mathematical relationship between the four circles whenever they
intersect.
Circle Type
Select the type of circle to be used.
Circle Center
Report and change the position of the circle center.
Circle Scale
Determine the size of the circle to be used for the pattern.
Color Tab
Phase
Phase changes the color phase of the entire image. When animated, this creates psychedelic color cycles.
R/G/B/A Phases
Changes the phase of the individual color channels and the alpha. When animated, this creates color cycling
effects.
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Creator Tools
[Plas] Creator Tools
Plasma
Image Tab
the tool.
Process Mode
Global In And Out
Global Range.

Width / Height
Pixel Aspect
Depth
format accordingly.
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Creator Tools
[Txt+] Creator Tools
Text Plus
Description:
Fusion's text tool is an advanced character generator capable of 3D transformations, multiple styles and several layers of shading. Text can be laid out to a user-defined frame, circle or along a
path.
Any True Type or Postscript 1 font installed on the computer can be used to create text. Support for multibyte and unicode characters allows text generation in any language, including right to
left and vertically oriented text.
This tool generates a 2D image. To produce extruded 3D text with optional beveling see the Text 3D tool.
Text Tab
Size
This control is used to increase or decrease the size of the text. This is not like selecting a point size in a word
processor. The size is relative to the width of the image.
Font
The Font controls are used to select the font used by Fusion to create the text. Fusion has limited support for
third-party font managers. Fonts managed by a third-party font manager may need to move to the fonts in
the Windows>Fonts folder.
Underline And Strikeout

These checkboxes enable the addition of emphasis styles to the font used.
Styled Text
The edit box in this tab is where the text to be created is entered. Any common character can be typed into
this box. The common Windows clipboard shortcuts (Ctrl-C to copy, Ctrl-X to Cut, Ctrl-V to paste) will also
work, however right clicking on the edit box displays a custom windows context menu.
The Styled Text context menu has the following options.
Animate
Use this command to set to a keyframe on the entered text and Animate the content over time.

This command enables Character Level Styling, which will place a set of controls in the modifiers tab. Use the-
se controls to affect changes in the font, color, size and transformations applied to individual characters.
Comp Name
Comp Name puts the name of the composition in the edit box and is generally used to create slates.
Follower
Follower is a text modifier that can be used to ripple animation applied to the text across each character in the
text. See Text Modifiers at the end of this section.
Publish
Publish the text for connection to other text tools.
Text Scramble
A text modifier ID is used to randomize the characters in the text. See Text Modifiers at the end of this section.
Text Timer
A text modifier is used to count down from a specified time or to output the current date and time. See Text
Modifiers at the end of this section.
Time Code
A text modifier is used to output Time Code for the current frame. See Text Modifiers at the end of this sec-
tion.
Connect To
Use this option to connect the text generated by this Text tool to the published output of another tool.
Write On
This range control is used to quickly apply simple Write On and Write Off effects to the text. To create a write
on effect, animate the End portion of the control from 1 to 0 over the length of time required. To create a
write off effect, animate the Start portion of the range control from 0 to 1.
International Font Controls

This drop down menu can be used to select a language specific to a subset of a font.
Direction
This menu provides options for determining the Direction in which the text is to be written.
Line Direction
These menu options are used to determine the text flow from top-bottom, bottom-top, left-right or right-left.
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Creator Tools
Text Plus
Force Monospaced
This slider control can be used to override the kerning (spacing between characters) that is defined in the font.
Setting this slider to zero (the default value) will cause Fusion to rely entirely on the kerning defined with each
character. A value of one will cause the spacing between characters to be completely even, or Monospaced.
Do Font Defined Kerning

This enables kerning as specified in the true type font and is on by default.
Advanced Font Controls

Use Font Defined Glyphs, Reordering And Ligation
Leave this checkbox selected unless instructed to do otherwise by support.
Manual Font Kerning/Placement

Right-clicking on this label will display a context menu that can be used to animate the kerning of the text.
See the Toolbar section of this tool's documentation later in this chapter for details on manual kerning.
Layout Tab
The controls used to position the text are located in the Layout Tab. One of four layout types can be selected
using the button array.
Point
Point layout is the simplest of the layout modes. Text is arranged according to the around an adjustable center
point.
Frame
Frame layout allows you to define a rectangular frame used to align the text. The alignment controls are used
to justifying the text vertically and horizontally within the boundaries of the frame.
Circle
Circle Layout places the text around the curve of a circle or oval. Control is offered over the diameter and
width of the circular shape. When the layout is set to this mode, the alignment controls determine whether
the text is positioned along the inside or outside of the circle's edge, and how multiple lines of text are justi-
fied.
Path
Path layout allows you to shape your text along the edges of a path. The path can be used simply to add style
to the text, or it can be animated using the Position on Path control that appears when this mode is selected.
Center X, Y And Z
These controls are used to position the center of the layout element in space. X and Y are onscreen controls
and Center Z is a slider in the tool controls.
Size
This slider is used to control the scale of the layout element.
Layout Rotation
Select this checkbox and another set of options appears to set the rotation options of the text.
Rotation Order
This button array allows you to select the order in which 3D rotations are applied to the text.
Angle X, Y And Z
These angle controls can be used to adjust the angle of the Layout element along any axis.
Width And Height

The Width control is visible when the layout mode is set to Circle or Frame. The Height control is only visi-
ble when the layout mode is set to Frame. They are used to adjust the dimensions and aspect of the Layout
element.
Perspective
This slider control is used to add or remove perspective from the rotations applied by the Angle X, Y and Z
controls.
Fit Characters
This menu control is only visible when the Layout type is set to Circle. This menu is used to select how the
characters are spaced to fit along the circumference.
Position On Path
The Position On Path control is used to control the position of the text along the path. Values less than zero or
greater than one will cause the text to move beyond the path in the same direction as the vector of the path
between the last two keyframes.
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Creator Tools
Text Plus
Background Color
This label only appears when the Layout type is set to Path. It is used to provide access to a context menu that
provides options for connecting the path to other paths in the flow, and animating the shape of the path over
time.
The text generated by this tool is normally rendered against black. This color picker control can be used to set
a new background color.
Right-click here for shape animation
Consult the Motion Paths chapter of this manual for details.
Horizontal And Vertical Alignment

Two identical sets of controls are used to control Vertical and Horizontal Alignment of the text. Use the first
array of buttons to choose the alignment of the text. The slider beneath controls the justification.
Transform Tab
Select Transform
There are three buttons to determine the portion of the text affected by the transformations applied in this
tab. Transformations can be applied to line, word and character levels simultaneously. This menu is only used
to keep the number of visible controls to a reasonable number.
Characters
Each character of text is transformed along its own center axis.
Words
Each word is transformed separately on the word's center axis.
Lines
Each line of the text is transformed separately on that line's center axis.
Spacing
The spacing slider is used to adjust the amount of space between each line, word or character. Values less than
one will usually cause the characters to begin overlapping.
Pivot X, Y And Z
This provides control over the exact position of the axis. By default, the axis is positioned at the calculated
center of the line, word or character. The axis control works as an offset, such that a value of 0.1, 0.1 in this
control would cause the axis to be shifted downward and to the right for each of the text elements. Positive
values in the Z axis slider will move the axis further along the axis (away from the viewer). Negative values will
bring the axis of rotation closer.
Rotation Order
These buttons are used to determine the order in which transforms are applied. X, Y and Z would mean that
the rotation is applied to X, then Y, and then Z.
Angle X, Y And Z
These controls can be used to adjust the angle of the text elements in any of the three dimensions.
Shear X And Y
Adjust these sliders to modify the slanting of the text elements along the X and Y axis.
Size X And Y
Adjust these sliders to modify the size of the text elements along the X and Y axis.

Creator Tools
Text Plus
Shading Tab
The Shading Tab provides controls to adjust the shading, texture and softness of the text. Transformations
can be controlled from this tab as well, applying additional transformations to as many as eight separate text
shading elements independently. The number menu is used to select the element affected by adjustments to
the controls in this tab.
Name
This text label can be used to assign a more descriptive name to each shading element.
Enabled
Select this checkbox to enable or disable each layer of shading elements. Element 1 is enabled by default. The
controls for a shading element will not be displayed unless this checkbox is selected.
Opacity
The Opacity slider controls the overall transparency of the shading element. It is usually better to assign opaci-
ty to a shading element than to adjust the alpha of the color applied to that element.
Priority Back/Front
This slider determines the layer's order for the shading elements, also known as the Z-order. Slide the control
to the right to bring an element closer to the front. Move it to the left to tuck one shading element behind
another.
Overlap
This menu is used to select how the renderer deals with an Overlap between two characters in the text.
Composite
This Overlap option will merge the shading over top of itself.
Solid
This option sets the pixels in the overlap region to pure opaque.
Transparent
This option sets the pixels in the overlap region to pure transparent.
Element Type (Buttons)

There are four options available from this menu, providing control over how the shading element is applied to
the text. Different controls will appear below depending on the element type selected.
Text Fill
The shading element is applied to the entire text. This is the default mode.
Text Outline
The shading element is drawn as an outline around the edges of the text.
Border Fill
The shading element fills a border surrounding the text. Five additional controls are provided with this shad-
ing mode.
Border Outline
The Border Outline mode draws an outline around the border that surrounds the text. It offers several additio-
nal controls.
Overlap
(All Types) Overlap is used to determine how the shading is handled when portions of the same shading
element overlap. Setting this menu to transparent will cause the pixels color and alpha channel to be set to 0
(transparent).
Thickness
(Outline only) Use this slider control to adjust the thickness of the outline. Higher values equal thicker outlines.
Adapt Thickness To Perspective

(Outline only) Selecting this checkbox will cause your outline to become thinner where the text is further away
from the camera, and thicker where it is closer. This will create a much more realistic outline for text transfor-
med in 3D, but takes significantly longer to render.
Outside Only
(Outline only) Selecting this checkbox will cause the outline to be drawn only on the outside edge of the text.
By default the outline is centered on the edge and partially overlaps the text.

Creator Tools
Text Plus
Shading Tab (ctd.)

Join Style
(Outline only)This menu provides options for how the corners of the outline are drawn. Options include Sharp,
Rounded and Beveled.
Line Style
(Outline only)This menu offers additional control over the style of the line. In addition to the default solid line,
a variety of dash and dot patterns are available.
Shape
(Border Fill only) Shape creates a solid rectangular image around the character.
Shape
(Border Outline only) Creates a rectangular outline around each character.
Level
(Border Fill only) This is used to control the portion of the text border filled.
Text
This draws a border around the entire text.
Line
This draws a border around each line of text.
Word
This draws a border around each word.
Character
This draws a border around each character.
Extend Horizontal And Extend Vertical

(Border only) Use this slider to change the dimensions of each border.
Round
(Border only) This slider is used to round off the edges of the border.
Color Types
In addition to solid shading, it is also possible to map an external image onto the text. This menu is used to
determine if the color of the shading element is derived from a user-selected color or if it comes from an
external image source. Different controls will be displayed below depending on the Color Type selected.
Solid Mode
When the type menu is set to Solid mode, color selector controls are provided to select the color of the text.
Image Mode
The output of a tool in the flow will be used to texture the Text. The tool used is chosen using the color Image
control revealed when this option is selected.
Color Image
(Image Mode only) This color image text box is used to enter the name of the tool in the flow that will provide
the image. You can type the name in with the keyboard, drag the tool from the flow into the text box or right
click and select connect to from the context menu to select the image to be used.
Image Size
(Image Mode only) The image size menu is used to select how the image is mapped to the text.
Full Image
This option applies the entire image to the text.
Text
This option applies the image to fit the entire set of text.
Line
This option applies the image per line of text.
Word
This option applies the image per each word of text.
Character
This option applies the image per individual character.

Creator Tools
Text Plus
Shading Tab (ctd.)

Softness X And Y
These sliders control the softness of the text outline used to create the shading element. Control is provided
for the X and Y axis independently.
Softness On Fill Color Too

Selecting this checkbox will cause blur (softness) to be applied to the shading element as well. The effect is
best seen when applied to a shading element colored by an external image.
Softness Glow
This slider will apply a glow to the softened portion of the shading element.
Softness Blend
This slider controls the amount that the result of the softness control is blended back with the original. It can
be used to tone down the result of the soften operation.
Transform Controls
Selecting the Transform button in the Shading tab will display controls for performing transformations to
the shading elements. These controls work in exactly the same way as their equivalents in the Alignment and
Layout Tabs, with the addition of a center offset control.
Offset X, Y And Z
These controls are used to apply offset from the text's global center (as set in the Layout Tab) for the shading
elements. A value of X0.0, Y0.1 in the coordinate controls would place the shading element center 10 percent
of the image further down the screen along the y-axis. Positive values in the Z-Offset slider control will push
the center farther away from the camera, while positive values will bring it closer to the camera.

Creator Tools
Text Plus
Tabs Tab
The controls in the Tabs area are used to configure the horizontal screen positions of 8 separate tab stops. Any
tab characters in the text will conform to these positions.
Because the tab key is used by Fusion to advance to the next control, it is not possible to enter a tab directly
into the Styled Text input. Enter a tab using one of the following methods.
ASCII Character
Hold down the Alt key and type 009 on the numeric keypad.
Copy And Paste

copy a tab from another document, such as notepad, and paste it into the text box.
Position
This control is used to set the horizontal position of the tab in the frame. The values range from 0.0 to 1.0
where 0 is the far left side and 1 is the far right side of the frame. The position of the tab will be indicated in
the display view by a thin vertical white line when the text tool is selected and the tabs tab is open.
Alignment
Each tab can be set to either left aligned, right aligned or centered. This slider ranges from -1.0 to 1.0, where
-1.0 is a left aligned tab, 0.0 is a centered tab and 1.0 is a right aligned tab. Small white boxes at the top of the
tab lines indicate that there are tabs present in the flow. Clicking within these boxes will toggle the alignment
of the tab between the three states.

Creator Tools
Text Plus
Rendering Tab
Image Shading Sampling
Use this button array to select the sampling type for shading rendering and transformations. The default of
Pixel shading is sufficient for 90% of tasks. To reduce detectable aliasing in the text, set the sampling type to
Area. This is slower but may produce better quality results. A setting of None will render faster, but with no
additional sampling applied so the quality will be lower.
Image Shading Edges

Use this button array to choose how transformations applied to image shading elements are handled when
they wrap off of the text's edges.
Sort Shading Elements

This button selection determines the ordering of the shading elements. The default is By Priority, which orga-
nizes the shading elements back to front according to the priority back/front slider in each shading elements
controls.
Selecting the By Depth (Z-Position) option will re-organize these according to each element's Z position, as
set by the element's transformations.
Clip Characters Behind Camera

This checkbox determines whether characters that go beyond the plane of the camera will be clipped, or if
they will reflect back toward the center of the image. This should normally be enabled for clipping, but some
interesting effects can be produced when clipping is disabled.
Anti-Aliasing
This slider is used to increase or decrease the amount of anti-aliasing applied to the text. Higher values mean
exponentially longer render times, while lower valius reduce render times at the expense of quality.
Render To Flash File

Click this button to render the output of the text tool to a Macromedia Flash file.
Render To DPS/Leitch DPT File

Click this button to render the output of the text tool at the current frame to a dpsReality style DPT file for use
with the dpsVelocity editing software.
DPT Type
There are three types of DPT types. Select from Still, Roll and Crawl before clicking on the Render to Reality
DPT button above.
DPT Resolution
This menu selects the resolution of the DPT file output when the Render to DPS/Leitch DPS file button is
selected. Select the option that matches the hardware for the DPT, or leave this at auto to have the resolution
set by the size of the image created by the text tool.

Creator Tools
Text Plus
Library Tab
The Shading Library is used to store and retrieve the settings of a text tool for easy re-use.
Put
To add a new text element to the library, click on the Put button.
All of the current settings for the tool will be saved according to the name assigned.
A thumbnail will appear in the Shading Library showing how that style looks on the letter A.
Get
Click on a shading element in the library, then click on the Get button to apply those settings to the current
tool.
Get will replace all of the text as well as the style.
Shading
Clicking on Shading will replace the shading elements only, without affecting the text entered.
Right-click in the shading library window for a list of display options.
Text+ Toolbar
When the Text tool is selected, a toolbar will appear in the display views.
Allow Typing In Preview Window

Enable this button to type and edit text directly in the preview window, click on the text to produce a cursor
that can be positioned within the text. The cursor can be moved using the arrow keys. Type normally.
Allow Manual Kerning

This button enables Manual Kerning, which overrides the automatic kerning normally applied to text. A small
red dot will appear beneath each character of text in the display view. Click-drag on the dot to reposition a
character. Also select multiple characters and move them together. Hold the Alt key down while dragging to
constrain motion to a single axis.
Use the arrow keys on the keyboard to make manual adjustments to the position of the selected characters.
Hold the Ctrl key down while pressing arrow keys to move the character in smaller increments. Shift will move
the characters in larger increments.
To animate the position of each character, right-click on the control label Manual Font Kerning/Placement
beneath the Text tab's Advanced Font Controls and select Animate from the context menu. A new key will be
set on the animation spline each time a character is moved. All characters are animated with the same spline,
as with polyline mask animation.
No Text Outline
This button disables the drawing of any outline around the edges of the text. The outline is not a part of the
text. It is an onscreen control used to help identify the position of the text.
Text outline outside frame only

This button draws an outline around the edges of text which is outside the visible frame. This is useful for
locating text which has moved of screen and is no longer rendering a visible result.
Show Always Text Outline

This button draws an outline around the edges of text at all time, whether the text is visible within the frame
or not.

DeepPixel Tools
Texture Depth Blur Fog Shader SSAO

Deep Pixel Tools
Tool Reference Deep Pixel Tools
Depth Blur
Description:
The Depth Blur Tool is primarily used to create focal length or depth-of-field effects. It blurs 3D rendered images based on included Z channel values, and can also be used for general per-
pixel blurring effects by means of the Blur Channels control. If the Blur Image input is connected, channels from that image will be used to control the blur.
Controls
Filter
These buttons are used to select the filter used for applying the blur.
Box
This applies a depth based box blur effect to the image.
Soften
This applies a depth based general softening filter effect.
Super Soften
This applies a depth based high quality softening filter effect.
Blur Channels
Select one of these options to determine the channel used to control the level of blur applied to each pixel.
The channel from the main image input is used, unless a tool is connected to the tool's Blur Image input on
the flow.
Lock X/Y
When toggled on, this control locks the X and Y blur sliders together for symmetrical blurring.
Blur Size
This slider is used to set the strength of the horizontal and vertical blurring applied to the image.
Focal Point
This control is only visible when the Blur channel is set to use the Z Buffer.
Use this control to select the distance of the simulated point of focus. Lowering the value causes the Focal
Point to be closer to the camera, raising the value causes the focal point to be further away.
Click-drag the Pick button (the pointer changes to a dropper) over the displayed image and select a Z-buffer
value. If the image does not contain a valid Z-buffer, no change will occur in the value.
Depth Of Field
This control is used to determine the depth of the area in focus. The focal point is positioned in the middle
of the region and all pixels with a Z-value within the region stay in focus. For example, if the focal point was
selected from the image and set to a value of 300, and the depth of field is set to 200, any pixel with a Z-value
between 200 and 400 would remain in focus.
Z Scale
Scales the Z-buffer values by the selected amount. Raising the value causes the distances in the Z channel to
expand. Lowering the value causes it to contract. This is useful for exaggerating the depth effect. It can also be
used to soften the boundaries of the blur. Some images with small depth values may require the Z Scale to be
set quite low, below 1.0.
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Deep Pixel Tools
Fog
Description:
The Fog Tool is used to create simulated fog effects on 3D rendered images that contain a valid Z-buffer channel. The fog can be placed in front of or behind various elements of a rendered
image based on the selected Z channel planes. For more information, see the Auxiliary Channels chapter.
The second image input on the fog tool can be used to provide an image that is used as the source of the fog. If no image is provided, the fog consists of a single color. Generally, a noise map
of some sort is provided here.
Controls
Z-Buffer Near Plane And Far Plane

These controls are used to select the extents of the fog within the scene. To pick a value, click-drag the Pick
button to an area on the image being viewed where the plane is to be located.
The near plane is used to select the depth where the fog thins out to nothing. The far plane is used to select
the depth at which the fog becomes opaque.
Z Depth Scale
This option scales the Z-buffer values by the selected amount. Raising the value causes the distances in the
Z channel to expand, whereas lowering the value causes it to contract. This is useful for exaggerating the fog
effect.
Fog Color
This option displays and controls the current fog color. Alpha adjusts the fog's transparency value.
Fog Opacity
Use this control to adjust the opacity of the fog.
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Deep Pixel Tools
Shader
Description:
The Shader Tool can control the lighting, reflection mapping and 3D shading of elements in a rendered image. The reflection map image (connected to the green input) can be projected onto
all elements in the scene, or to elements selected by the Object and Material ID channels in the common controls. Effect masking can also be used to limit the effect of this tool.
The shader tool relies on the presence of the X, Y and Z normal map channels in 3D rendered images. If these channels are not present, this tool has no effect.
For more information, see the Auxiliary Channels chapter in the User Manual.
Light Tab
Ambient
Ambient controls the amount of Ambient color present in the scene or for the selected object. This is a base
level of light, added to all pixels, even in completely shadowed areas.
Diffuse
This option controls the amount of Diffuse color present in the scene or for the selected object. This is the
normal color of the object, reflected equally in all directions.
Specular
This option controls the amount of Specular color present in the scene or for the selected object. This is the
color of the glossy highlights reflected towards the eye from a light source.
Reflection
This option controls the amount of Reflection contribution in the scene or for the selected object. High levels
make objects appear mirrored, low levels overlay subtle reflections giving a polished effect. It has no effect if
no reflection map is connected.
Reflection Type
Select from these three buttons to determine the type of reflection mapping used to project the image in the
second input.
Screen
Screen causes the reflection map to appear as if it were projected on to a screen behind the point of view.
Spherical
Spherical causes the reflection map to appear as if it were projected on to a huge sphere around the whole
scene.
Refraction
Refraction causes the reflection map to appear as if it were refracting or distorting according to the geometry
in the scene.
Equator Angle
Equator Angle controls the left to right angle of the light generated and mapped by the Shader tool for the
scene or the selected object.
Polar Height
Polar Height controls the top to bottom angle of the light generated and mapped by the Shader tool for the
scene or the selected object.
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Deep Pixel Tools
Shader
Shader Tab
Edit Diffuse And Specular

Toggle these controls on to enable editing of the shader curves for the individual channels in the Shader
spline window.
In And Out
These options are used to display and edit point values on the spline.
Specular Color
Use the Diffuse curve to manipulate the diffuse shading and the Specular curve to effect the specular shading.
Drag a box over a number of points to group select them. Right-clicking displays a menu with options for
adjusting the spline curves.
For a complete description of the options and controls for the spline windows, see the documentation for the
LUT editor in the Controls chapter of the manual.
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Deep Pixel Tools
SSAO
Description:
SSAO is short for screenspace ambient occlusion.
Ambient Occlusion is the lighting caused when a scene is surrounded by a uniform diffuse spherical light source. Think of the scene as being surrounded by a humongous sphere that uni-
formly emits light from its surface. AO captures the low frequency lighting. It does not capture sharp shadows or diffuse or specular lighting. For this reason, AO is usually combined with
diffuse and specular lighting
to create a full lighting solution.
SSAO generates global lighting effects in 3D rendered scenes as a post effect. It approximates expensive raytraced global illumination quickly.
Being a post-effect, it exposes similar aliasing issues like the Shader, Texture, and VolumeFog tool. Hence artifacts may appear in certain situations.
Usage:
The AO tool rarely works out of the box, but requires some tweaking. The setup process involves adjusting the KernelRadius and NumberOfSamples to get the desired affect.
The KernelRadius is depends on the natural scale of the scene. Initially there might appear to be no AO at all. At this point either the KernelRadius is too small or too big
and working values have to be found.
Inputs:
Image (required): Requires RGBA, Z-Depth and Normals.
Scene (required): The Scene or 3D Camera, the image was rendered with.
If any of these are not supplied the tool will fail with a descriptive error.
Controls
Output Mode
Color
The incoming image with Ambient Occlusion applied
AO
Outputs the pure ambient occlusion as a grayscale image.
White corresponds to regions in the beauty pass that should be bright, while black correspond to regions that should be
darker. This allows to create a lighting equation by combining separate ambient/diffuse/specular passes. Having the AO as
a separate buffer allows for creative freedom to combine the passes in various ways.
Kernel Type
To determine the AO, rays are cast outward from a point on the surface being shaded outwards to a large enclosed sphere.
The number of unoccluded rays, that is those rays that reach the sphere determines the AO factor.
Hemisphere
Rays are cast towards a hemisphere oriented to the surfaces normal. This option is more realistic than Sphere and should
be used unless there is a good reason otherwise. Flat surfaces will receive 100% ambient intensity while other parts will be
darkened.
Sphere
Rays are cast towards a sphere centered about the point being shaded is used. This option is provided to produces a styli-
stic effect. Flat surfaces will receive 50% ambient intensity, while other parts will be made darker or brighter.
Number Of Samples
Increase the number of samples until artifacts in the AO pass disappear.
Higher values can generate better results but also increase render time.
Kernel Radius
The kernel radius controls the size of the filter kernel in 3D space. For each pixel it controls how far one searches in 3D
space for occluders. Most likely, the filter kernel is finicky and may need to be adjusted manually for each individual scene.
If made too small, nearby occluders can be missed. If made too large, the quality of the AO will decrease and the number
of samples needs to be increased dramatically to get the quality back.
This value is dependent on the scene Z depth. That means with huge Z-values in the scene, the kernel size needs to be
large as well. With tiny Z-values, a small kernel size like 0.1 should be sufficient.
Lift/Gamma/Tint
Used to adjust the AO for artistic effects.
Use OpenCL
SSAO is very slow on the CPU, but performs much better on the GPU.
Activate this switch to utilize the OpenCL power of your Graphics Card

Deep Pixel Tools
SSAO
Tip: Combining multiple SSAO passes with different kernel radii can produce better effects.
Known issues:
Transparency/Translucency: SSAO is designed to work with opaque objects. There will be two kind of problems, those with transparent receivers and those with transparent
occluders. The artist can work around some of these problems by splitting out the transparent/transclucent objects into separate scenes and only computing SSAO on the
opaque objects.
Particles: Do not use SSAO on particles, unless the particles are solid opaque geometry. This is just the transparency problem again.
Antialiased edges: (another form of transparency) will also cause problems with SSAO. Theres not much you can do about this.
Supersampling: see Antialiased edges. In order for this to work, the SSAO needs to be computed in the big image before it is downsampled to the final image.
View Dependence: SSAO methods work in view space and the results are view dependent. This is a limitation of the technique itself. This means the amount of darkening can
vary depending on the view location when in reality it should be constant. If at a point on an object the SSAO is 0.5, moving the camera could change it to 0.4.
Baking of AO: The UV renderer can be used to bake AO into the textures on models.

Deep Pixel Tools
Texture
Description:
The Texture tool can control the texture mapping of elements in a rendered image. The texture-map image (connected to the green input) can be wrapped around objects to replace the cur-
rent texture. The Texture tool relies on the presence of U and V Map Channels in 3D rendered images. If these channels are not present this tool has no effect.
Note that background pixels may have U and V values of 0.0, which will set those pixels to the color of the texture's corner pixel. To restrict texturing to specific objects, use an effect mask
based on the alpha of the object, or its Object or Material ID channel.
For more information, see the Auxiliary Channels chapter.
Texture Tab
Swap UV
When this checkbox is selected the U and V channels of the source image are swapped.
Flip Horizontal And Vertical

The texture-map image is flipped horizontally and/or vertically when this control is toggled on.
Rotate 90
The texture-map image is rotated 90 degrees when this checkbox is enabled.
U And V Scale
These controls change the scaling of the U and V coordinates used to map the texture. Changing these values
effectively enlarges and shrinks the texture map as it is applied.
U And V Offset
Adjust these controls to offset the U and V coordinates. Changing the values causes the texture to appear to
move along the geometry of the object.
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Dimension Tools
Copy Aux Disparity Disparity To Z Flow Speed Flow Stretcher
Global Align New Eye Optical Flow Repair Frame Smooth Motion
Overview Quick Start
Stereo Align Tween Z To Disparity
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Dimension Tools
Overview Quickstart Dimension Tools
Dimension Overview
Dimension Overview
Dimension
Related videos on YouTube:
Tools Overview
Disparity Tools Overview
Optical Flow Overview
eyeon Dimension is a stereo disparity and optical flow based tool set. Dimensions toolset can be divided into 2 groups
which partially overlap in functionality:
Stereo
Dimensions stereo tools can be used to solve stereo shooting issues, like 3D rig mis-alignment, image mirror polarization
differences, camera timing sync issues, color alignment, convergence, and eye separation issues. The stereo tools can
also be used for creating depth maps.
Flow
Dimensions flow tools can be used for the retiming of sequences, repairing of missing frames, slow motion, and time
stretching.
The Disparity and OpticalFlow tools do the heavy lifting of generating disparity maps and optical flow vectors fields, while
the remaining tools use their results to apply functions to images.
Installation
The Dimension plugin is to be installed in the Fusion/Plugins/eyeon, or RenderNode/Plugins/eyeon subdirectory.
There are 32bit and 64bit versions of the plugin available.
Dimension requires a valid license for Fusion and Rendernodes. Licenses are per machine, they are not per instance of
Fusion. Shared licenses are acquired on a first come, first serve basis. Having the Dimension plugin installed does not
immediately use up a license, but rather a license is acquired as soon as you either add a Dimension tool to the flow or
load a composition using a Dimension tool. Closing all compositions using Dimension tools releases the license. Note
that deleting the all the Dimension tools from the flow will not release a license, however, as a workaround you can
delete all the Dimension tools in a comp, save and close the comp, and then reopen it.
NOTE: Dimension must be matched with Fusion 6.31 or later. It will not work with earlier versions as they lack support
for the disparity and vector aux channels.
Quick Tool Overview
CopyAux for copying aux channels into RGBA with less clicks/tools than Channel Booleans
Disparity generates disparity between Left/Right images
DisparityToZ converts disparity to Z depth
FlowSpeed TimeSpeed with added flow interpolation mode
FlowStretcher TimeStretcher with added flow interpolation mode
NewEye replaces left and/or right eye with interpolated eyes
OpticalFlow generates optical flow between subsequent frames in a sequence
RepairFrame regenerates a frame using optical flow between its two neighbors
SmoothMotion for smoothing of color or aux channels using optical flow
StereoAlign for adjusting vertical alignment, convergence, eye separation
Tween interpolates between two non-sequential images
ZToDisparity converts Z depth to disparity
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Dimension Tools
Dimension Overview
Working With Aux Deep Channels

An understanding of auxiliary channels in Fusion is important for users of Dimension since most of the new tools like
Disparity and OpticalFlow deal directly with these deep channels. Lets review them a bit further.
Fusion images can contain other channels than color. The complete list is:
RGBA these are just the standard colors

Z the eyespace z coordinate, almost always negative since in eyespace Fusions camera sits at (0, 0,
0)
looking down the -z axis, z values start at z = 0 at the camera focal point and progressively
become more negative for objects deeper in the scene
Coverage the percentage of the pixel that is covered by the frontmost pixel, used for antialiased
z-compositing
Object ID object IDs are user assigned integers to meshes
Material ID material IDs are user assigned integers to materials
Texture Coords normalized texture coordinates stored as (u, v) pairs
Normal Vector normal vector (nx, ny, nz) where the components are typically in the range [-1, +1]
Background Color the color of pixel if the frontmost layer were removed, used for antialiased z-compositing
Vector the forward motion vector
an offset (vx, vy) that corresponds a pixel in this frame to one in the next frame
Back Vector the backward motion vector
an offset (vx, vy) that corresponds a pixel in this frame to one in the prev frame
World Position the position (wx, wy, wz) of the pixel in world coordinates
Disparity an offset (dx, dy) that maps a pixel in the Left -> Right or Right -> Left frames
These extra channels are used by some Fusion tools. For example:
Merge can use the Z channel to perform a depth merge.

If the Coverage and BackgroundColor channels are present it can do a better job on antialiased edges during the Z
merge.
Most image processing tools (eg BrightnessContrast) have on their radioactive tab options
to limit their processing by MaterialID and ObjectID
The Fog and DepthBlur tools make use of the Z channel.
The Texture tool makes use of the TexCoord channel
The Shader tool makes use of the Normal channel.
There are a couple of ways to retrieve or generate those extra channels. For example:
The Renderer3D is capable of generating most of these channels.

The OpticalFlow tool generates the Vector and BackVector channels and then FlowStretcher and FlowSpeed can
make
use of these channels.
The Disparity tool generates the Disparity channels and then DisparityToZ, NewEye, and StereoAlign tools can
make use
of the Disparity channels.
The OpenEXR format can be used to import or export these aux channels into Fusion by specifying a mapping
from EXR
attributes to Fusion aux channels.
Viewing of Aux Channels

Since Fusion 6.31, aux channels can now be viewed directly in
the views through a channel flyout.
You could use the CopyAux tool to copy those channels directly
into the RGB channels for viewing or further processing. The
advantage of using the CopyAux tool is that it does static
normalization which reduces a lot of flicker that the views time-
variant normalization causes. When viewing long sequences
of aux channels the CopyAux tool has the option to kill off aux
channels and keep only the current RGB channels, freeing up
valuable memory to cache more frames.
Yet another way to view aux channels is to use the

ChannelBooleans to copy any aux channel into RGBA.
Keep in mind that aux channels are often stored as signed floats so, if you are viewing a channel such as WorldPosition,
its a good idea to normalize the view to see the full dynamic range including any negatives values. In particular the Z
channel is almost always negative and gets more negative the further objects are away from the camera.
Another thing to be aware of is that aux channels tend to chew through a lot of memory. A float32 1080p image
containing just RGBA uses about 32MB of memory but, with all the aux channels enabled, it consumes around 200MB of
memory.
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Dimension Tools
Aux Channels Revisited

Dimension WorkFlow
Disparity and optical flow generation are computational expensive. Because of that the general idea is that users will
pregenerate these channels for example overnight or on the renderfarm and save them into an EXR sequence.
The toolset is designed around this philosophy. There are four types of tools:
Generator Tools
OpticalFlow and Disparity

These generate the Vector/BackVector and Disparity channels and store them in the hidden aux channels of their output
image.
Function Tools
NewEye, FlowSpeed, FlowStretcher, StereoAlign

These use and destroy the Vector/BackVector/Disparity channels to do interpolation on the color channel.
The hidden channels are destroyed in the process because, after the tools have been applied, the original Vector/
BackVector/Disparity channels would be invalid.
For these tools to work there must be either an upstream OpticalFlow/Disparity tool generating the hidden channels or
an OpenEXR Loader bringing these channels in.
User Tools
DisparityToZ, ZToDisparity, SmoothMotion

These tools pass through, modify, or generate new aux channels, but do not destroy any.
Construction Tools
RepairFrame, Tween
Because these tools work with flow values between non-sequential frames, they cannot use the optical flow stored in
the input images Vector/BackVector channels, but rather must regenerate the flow each frame, do their processing, and
then destroy the flow channels. This makes them slow.
Separate vs. Stack
Stereo tools can work in "Separate or "Stack modes.
When in stack mode, the left/right eyes are stacked horizontally or

vertically, forming one image with double width or height respectively.
The advantage to using stack mode is that you do not have to have duplicate branches of the flow for the left and right
eyes.
As a consequence, you will see Dimension tools with two inputs and two outputs labelled as "Left and "Right.
When in stack mode, the stack should be connected to the left eye input and the "Left output should be used for
connecting further tools.
In stack mode the respective Right eye inputs and outputs are hidden.
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Disparity Toolset
Standard Workflow Setup
The two operations to happen first are either disparity generation or optical flow calculation.
Because both of these operations are computationally expensive, it is recommended to pre-render them to an
intermediate format like EXR.
In the Comp above you can see two different workflows.

The top workflow takes the left and right eye, generates the Disparity, then NewEye is used to generate a new eye for
the image right away.
As said before, disparity generation is time consuming.

So the bottom scheme renders the frames with disparity to intermediate EXR images, these images are then loaded
back into Dimension and used to create the NewEye images.
By using rendernodes to compute the disparity and optical flow first, the later processing of the creative operations can
be a much faster and interactive experience.
Although not shown in the above diagram, it is usually a good idea to color correct the right eye to be similar to the left
eye before disparity generation as this helps with the disparity tracking algorithm. The color matching does not need to
be perfect, for example, it can be accomplished using the "Match option in a ColorCorrectors histogram options.
Typical Optical Flow Pitfalls

Semi-Transparent Objects
The optical flow and disparity generation algorithms Fusion uses assume there is only one layer per pixel when tracking
pixels from frame to frame. In particular transparent objects and motion blur will cause problems. For example a shot
flying through the clouds with the semi-transparent clouds in the foreground and a distant landscape background will
confuse the of/stereo algorithms as they do not recognize different overlapping objects with different motions. Usually
the optical flow will end up tracking regions of one object or the other. If the transparent object and the background
are near the same depth and consequently have the same disparity then it is not a problem.
Motion Blur
Motion blur is also a serious problem for the reason explained in the previous point. The Disparity and Optical Flow
algorithms are unsure whether or not to assign a pixel in the motion blur to the moving object or the background
pixel. Because the algorithms used are global in nature, not only the vectors on the motion blur will be wrong but it will
confuse the algorithm on regions close to the motion blur.
Depth of Field
Depth of field is also another problem. Related to the above 2 problems. The problem occurs when you have a
defocused foreground object over a background object that is moving (OF case) or shifts between L/R (stereo disparity
case). The blurred edges will confuse the tracking since they cant figure out the edges are actually two separate
objects.
Where in the pipeline to calculate Optical Flow?

Where you chose to generate optical flow or disparity in your composition can drastically affect the results.
For example, if you have composited a lens flare in, it is better to compute OpticalFlow/Disparity before that, since the
semi-transparent lens flare will confuse the tracking algorithms.
If you are color correcting the left/right eyes to match or for deflickering, it is better to apply the OpticalFlow/Disparity
after since it will be easier for the tracking algorithm to find matches if the color matches between frames.
If you are removing lens distortion, think carefully about whether you want to do it before or after disparity
computation. If you do it after, your disparity map will also act as a lens distortion map, combining the two effects as
one.
As a general rule of thumb, it is best to use OpticalFlow/Disparity before any compositing operations except an initial
color matching correction and a lens distortion removal.
Cropping The Source
As a general tip, if you are cropping your input images down for any reason, it is probably better to compute the optical
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Dimension Tools
Disparity Toolset
flow or disparity before the crop and then afterwards crop the flow/disparity along with the color.
The reason is that flow/disparity matching works well when there is pixel data to match in common in both frames, but
when there are pixels that show up in just one frame (or one eye) then the Disparity/OpticalFlow tools have to make
a guess and fill in the data. The biggest occlusions going from L <> R are usually pixels along the L/R edges of the
images which get moved outside. This is similar for optical flow when you have a moving camera.
Another thing to be aware of are black borders around the edges of your frames, which you should crop away.
Shooting Considerations
Consider these problems when filming. It may be worth it to adjust your camera settings to reduce motion blur and
depth of field and then add them back in post.
Other Gotchas
Tools with Multiple Outputs: Many of the stereo tools in the Dimension toolset have multiple outputs. This can cause
some confusion to new users. One particularly confusing thing is that when you drag a stereo tool to the view, it
will always display the left output. There is no way to view the right output without connecting another tool like BC
(BrightnessContrast) to the right output and viewing that.
Picking from Aux Channels: Some tools like StereoAlign allow one to drag pick from the Z or Disparity auxiliary
channels. You must pick from a tool upstream of the StereoAlign, not from the output of the StereoAlign. If you try to
pick a disparity from the output of a StereoAlign tool, you will get nothing because StereoAlign consumes/destroys the
Disparity aux channel (and even if it did not destroy the Disparity channel you would still be picking the wrong value
since you would be picking from the aligned result). The typical workflow for picking is:
1. view StereoAlign in the left view

2. view the tool upstream of StereoAlign in the right view
3. pick the disparity value from the left eye in the right view
Although this picking functionality does not operate any differently from normal picking of color channels, this issue
may cause some confusion. If it helps, the analogous workflow mistake with color tools would be a user trying to pick a
gradient color for a Background tool from a view showing the Background tool itself (you are trying to pick a color for a
tool from its own output).
Another gotcha is that you need to be careful which eye you are picking from. To avoid problems, its a good idea to
always pick from the left eye. The reason is that the Disparity channels for the left and right eyes are different and when
you pick from a horizontal/vertical stereo stack Fusion has no way of knowing whether you picked the disparity value
from the left or right eye.
The above are not hard and fast rules, rather they are guidelines to prevent foot shootings. If you understood the
above reasoning fully, youll realize there are exceptions, like picking disparity from the left output of DisparityToZ and Z
from the left/right output of ZToDisparity where everything is okay.
Vector and Disparity Channels

The Vector and BackVector channels store the forward and reverse optical flow.
The Vector channel might be better named "forward vector or "forward flow since the name "Vector to describe a
channel is "not technically correct as the more mathematically inclined user might recognize that all of the channels
except the scalar channels Z/ID are technically "vector channels. A frames Vector aux channel will store the flow
forward from the current frame to the next frame in the sequence and the BackVector aux channel will store the flow
backward from the current frame to the previous frame. If either the previous or next frames do not exist (either not on
disk or the global range of a loader does not allow OpticalFlow to access them), Dimension will fill the corresponding
channels with zeros (transparent black).
The Disparity channel stores the displacement vectors that match pixels in one eye to the other eye. The left images
Disparity channel will contain vectors that map left->right and the right images Disparity channel will contain vectors
that map right->left. ie.
(xleft, yleft) + (Dleft.x, Dleft.y) --> (xright, yright)
(xright, yright) + (Dright.x, Dright.y) --> (xleft, yleft)
so that you would expect for non-occluded pixels that Dleft = -Dright, although, due to the disparity generation
algorithm this is only an approximate equality. Note that disparity stores both x and y values because rarely are left/
right images perfectly registered in y even when taken through a carefully setup camera rig.
Disparity and optical flow values are stored as unnormalized pixel shifts. In particular note that this breaks from Fusions
resolution independent convention. After much consideration, this convention was chosen so the user wouldnt have to
worry about rescaling the disparity/flow values when cropping an image or working out scale factors when importing/
exporting these channels to other applications. Because the flow and disparity channels store things in pixel shifts, this
can cause problems with Proxy and AutoProxy. The convention that Fusion follows is that for proxied images these
channels store unscaled pixel shifts valid for the full sized image. So if you wish to access the disparity values in a script

Dimension Tools
Disparity Toolset
or via a probe, you need to remember to always scale them by (image.Width / image.OriginalWidth, image.Height /
image.OriginalHeight).
When using Vector and BackVector aux channels remember that all tools expect these aux channels to be filled with the
flow between sequential frames. More precisely, if you have sequence of 3 frames A, B, C then
B.Vector will contain the flow B->C

B.BackVector will contain the flow B->A
A.Vector will contain the flow A->B
A.BackVector is written with zeros as there is no frame before A
C.Vector is written with zeros as there is no frame D to flow C->D
C.BackVector will contain the flow C->B
When working with these channels, it is the users responsibility to follow these rules (or for clever users to abandon
them). Tools like FlowStretcher will not function correctly since they still expect them to contain flow forward/back by 1
frame.
Currently DoD/RoI is not supported for all Dimension tools.

Dimension Tools
Dimension Quickstart
Quick Start
How To Use Dimension Related videos on YouTube:
There are two categories of Tools in Dimension. The stereo set is the Disparity tools and the Optical Flow tools process Tools Overview
sequential frames. There are also Utility tools and existing Fusion tools that work with the Dimension toolset. The Disparity Tools Overview
Disparity tool and Optical Flow tool calculate the respective maps and vectors channels. These need to be processed Optical Flow Overview
first then the images can be manipulated by other tools using this data.
Stereo and Disparity
Disparity is the difference between the left and right image. The disparity map is used by tools to align and massage the
stereo pair of images.
The Disparity Tool analyzes a stereo pair of images and generates an X&Y disparity map. The data is put into the
Disparity X&Y channels of the image.
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Dimension Tools
The workflow is to load a left and right stereo image pair and process those in the Disparity tool. Make sure that the left
and right images are connected to the left and right inputs of the Disparity tool. Once the Disparity map is generated,
other tools can process the images.
PreRender
The Disparity Tool can either handle left and right images, or as a stacked stereo pair. There is an option in the tool to
switch the stereo mode.
Calculating the disparity map is time consuming. A recommended workflow is to prerender the images with the disparity
channels to disk using EXR format.
Using Disparity Maps

The tools that use the Disparity maps are Stereo Align and NewEye, which process and warp the images to align them
and adjust convergence
and eye separation. The DisparityToZ tool will convert the disparity map into a Z-Buffer, allowing the images to be
incorporated into a 3D scene.

Dimension Tools
Dimension Quickstart Color Alignment
The tools in Fusion that do color matching are Color Corrector and Color Curves. If the colors between shots are
different, use Color Corrector or Color Curves to do a global alignment first before calculating the Disparity Map.
Using Color Corrector: Feed the image you will change into the orange input and the reference into the green input. In
the the Histogram section, select Match, and also select Snapshot Match Time.
Using Color Curves is simlar - use the Match Reference button.
Optical Flow
Optical Flow calculates vectors between sequential frames. It will generate X&Y vectors from the previous frame to
the current frame (Back Vectors) and to the next frame in sequence (Forward Vectors). Once calculated, tools such as
FlowSpeed and FlowStrecher can be used to create slow motion sequences.
Footage is loaded and then processed by the OpticalFlow tool to generate the forward and back vectors. The images
vectors are stored in Vector and Back Vector channels. These images can be processed by the FlowSpeed and
FlowStrecher tools to create Slow Motion time effects.

Dimension Tools
Dimension Quickstart PreRender

Because the OpticalFlow generation is a time consuming process, it is recommended to prerender the optical flow
images to EXR image files before doing post processing.
Using Optical Flow

FlowSpeed will create constant slow motion. This has control to change the speed, for example setting the speed to
0.01 will make the sequence 10 times slower. FlowStretcher has a spline control to define from where it is sampling. This
allows for nonlinear speed changes, such as slowing a sequence down till it stops.
Tween & Repair Frame
These two tools are different from standard optical flow tools and have the OpticalFlow generation built in. Tween will
compare two frames and create an in-between frame, which is good for recreating a missing or glitched frame. Repair
Frame will look at frames on either side of the current frame and repair scratches, dust marks, etc.

Dimension Tools
[CpA] Overview Quickstart Dimension Tools
Copy Aux
Description:
CopyAux copies aux channel groups into RGBA channels.
It is mostly a convenience tool as the copying can also be accomplished with more effort using a ChannelBoolean tool. Although CopyAux has quite a few options, most of the time you will
only adjust the channel to copy and ignore the rest.
Before 6.31 to access aux channels you used a ChannelBoolean to copy them into the RGBA channels. Often this would also involve a ChangeDepth tool to make sure that the RGBA channels
which were receiving the aux channel were float32. Now in Dimension CopyAux accomplishes the same result in less mouse clicks, allowing you to work faster. Where ChannelBooleans deals
with individual channels, CopyAux deals with channel groups. By default the CopyAux tool will automatically promote the depth of its output to match the depth of the aux channel.
CopyAux also supports static normalization ranges. The advantage of static normalization versus the dynamic normalization that Fusion's display views do is that colors remain constant
over time. For example, if you are viewing Z or worldPos values for a ball, you will see a smooth gradient from white to black. Now imagine that some other 3D object is introduced into the
background at a certain time... dynamic normalization will turn the ball almost completely white while the background object is now the new black. Dynamic normalization also causes flicker
problems while viewing vector/disparity channels, which can make it difficult to compare the aux channels of two frames at different times visually.
Controls
Mode
Mode determines whether the aux channel is copied into the RGBA color channel or vice versa.Using this op-
tion you can use one CopyAux to bring an aux channel into color, do some compositing operations on it, and
then use another CopyAux to write the color back in the aux channel.When the Mode is set to "Color->Aux"
all the inputs except AuxChannel are hidden.
Aux Channel
The aux channel is to be copied from or written to depending on the current Mode.When the aux channel
abcd has one valid component, it will be copied as aaa1, two valid components as ab01, three valid com-
ponents as abc1, and four components as abcd. For example, the Z channel will be copied as zzz1, texture
coordinates as uv01, and normals as nxnynz1.
Out Color Depth

Out Color Depth controls the color depth of the output image. Most aux channels contain float values or, if
they are integer valued, they can contain values beyond 255. When you copy float values into an int8 or int16
image, thiscan bea problem since negative values and values over 1.0 can get clipped.In addition, precision
can be lost.This option determines what happens if the depth of RGBA channels of the input imageis insuffici-
ent to contain the copied aux channel.
Most aux channels contain float values or, if they are integer valued, they can contain values beyond 255.
When you copy float values into an int8 or int16 image, thiscan bea problem since negative values and values
over 1.0 can get clipped.In addition, precision can be lost.This option determines what happens if the depth of
RGBA channels of the input imageis insufficient to contain the copied aux channel.
Be careful about copying float channels into integer image formats, as they can get clipped if you do not
setup CopyAux correctly. For the purpose of this tool, all aux channels are considered to be float32 except
ObjectID/MaterialID, which are considered to be int16.
Match aux channel depth

The bit depth of the RGBA channels of the output image will be increased to match the depth of the aux
channel. In particular, this means that the RGBA channels of the output image will be either int16 or float32. It
is wise to be careful when using this option as (for example) if you normally have int8 color channels, you will
now be using 2x or 4x more memory for the color channels. In particular, the Z, Coverage, TextureCoordinate,
Normal, Vector, BackVector, WorldPosition, and Disparity channels will always be output as float and the mate-
rial/objectID channels will be output as int16.
Match source color depth

The bit depth of the RGBA channels of the output image will be the same as the input image.This can have
some unexpected consequences.For example, if your input image is int8, the xyz components of normals
which are floating point numbers in the [-1,1] range will be clipped to a non-negative numbers [0, 1] range.As
a more extreme example, consider what will happen to Z-values:Z values are floating point numbers stored in
the [-1e30, 0] range and they will all get truncated to the [0,1] range, which means your z channel will be full
of zeroes.
Force Float32
The bit depth of the RGBA channels of the output image will always be float32.
Channel Missing
Channel Missing determines what happens if a channel is not present.For example, this determines what hap-
pens if you chose to copy Disparity to color and your input image does not have a Disparity aux channel.
Fail
The tool fails and prints an error message to the console.
Use Default Value

This fills the RGBA channels with the default value, withzero for everything except Z for which it is-1e30.
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[CpA]
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Dimension Tools
[CpA] Overview Quickstart Dimension Tools
Copy Aux
Kill Aux Channels

When this is checked, CopyAux will copy the requested channel to RGBA and then output a resulting image that is purely
RGBA with all other channels being killed.This is useful if you want to increase the number of frames of CopyAux that
can be cached for playback, for example to playback a long sequence of disparity.A handy tip is that you can use the "Kill
Aux" feature also with just copy color->color for a longer color playback.
Enable Remapping
When remapping is enabled, the currently selected aux channel will be rescaled linearly mapping the range according to
the From and To slider selections as explained below. The "Remapping" options are applied before the conversion opera-
tion. This means you could set the From.Min/From.Max values to -1,1 to rescale your normals into the [0,1] range or set
them to [-1000, 0] to rescale your z values from [-1000,0] into the [0,1] range before the clipping occurs.
The "Remapping" options are applied before the conversion operation. This means you could set the From.Min/From.
Max values to -1,1 to rescale your normals into the [0,1] range or set them to [-1000, 0] to rescale your z values from
[-1000,0] into the [0,1] range before the clipping occurs. Note that the Remapping options are per channel options.That
means the default scale for Normals can be set to [-1, +1] -> [0,1] and for Z it can be set [-1000,0] -> [0,1]. When you flip
between normals and Z, both options will be remembered.One way this could be useful is that you can set up all of your
remapping ranges and savethis as a setting that you can reuse.
Note that the Remapping options are per channel options.That means the default scale for Normals can be set to [-1,
+1] -> [0,1] and for Z it can be set [-1000,0] -> [0,1]. When you flip between normals and Z, both options will be remem-
bered.One way this could be useful is that you can set up all of your remapping ranges and savethis as a setting that you
can reuse. The remapping can be useful to squash the aux channels into a static [0,1] range for viewing or (for example)
if you wish to compress normals into the [0, 1] range in order to store them in an int8 image.
The remapping can be useful to squash the aux channels into a static [0,1] range for viewing or (for example) if you wish
to compress normals into the [0, 1] range in order to store them in an int8 image.
From.Min
This is thevalue of the aux channel that will correspond to To.Min.
From.Max
This is thevalue of the aux channel that will correspond to To.Max.It is possible to set the max value less than the min
value to achieve a flip/inversion of the values.
Detect Range
This scans the current image to detect the min/max values and then sets the From.Min/From.Max Value controls to these
values.
Update Range
This scans the current image to detect the min/max values and then enlarges the current [From.Min, From.Max] region
so that it contains the min/max values from the scan.
To.Min
This is the minimum output value, whichdefaults to 0.
To.Max
This is the maximum output value, whichdefaults to 1.
Invert
After the values have been rescaled into the [To.Min, To.Max] range, this inverts/flips the range.
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Dimension Tools
[Dis] Overview Quickstart Dimension Tools
Disparity
Description:
Disparity generates the left/right shift between the frames in a stereo pair. It also generates the vertical disparity between the left/right images which is usually a lot smaller than the horizontal
disparity and ideally should be 0 to minimize viewing discomfort. When viewing the output of the Disparity tool in the views, the human eye can distinguish quality/detail in the disparity map
better by looking at either the greyscale x disparity or y disparity rather than looking at the combined xy disparity as a Red/Green color image.
The generated disparity is stored in the output image's Disparity aux channel, where the left image contains the left->right disparity and the right image contains the right->left disparity.
Because disparity works based upon matching regions in the left eye to regions in the right eye by comparing colors and gradients of colors, it is important that colors in the two eyes are as
similar as possible. Thus it is a good idea to color correct ahead of time. It is also a good idea to crop away any black borders around the frames as this will confuse the disparity tracking (and
also cause problems if you are using ColorCorrector's histogram match ability to do the color matching).
Because disparity works based upon matching regions in the left eye to regions in the right eye by comparing colors and gradients of colors, it is important that colors in the two eyes are as
similar as possible. Thus it is a good idea to color correct ahead of time. It is also a good idea to crop away any black borders around the frames as this will confuse the disparity tracking (and
also cause problems if you are using ColorCorrector's histogram match ability to do the color matching).
In stack mode, L and R outputs will output the same image. If the left and right images have a global vertical offset bigger than a few pixels from each other, it can help the disparity tracking
algorithm if you approximately vertically align features in the left/right eyes ahead of time using a Transform tool.Small details tend to get lost in the tracking process when you have a large
vertical offset between left/right eyes.
Consider using a SmoothMotion tool to smooth your Disparity channel. This can help reduce time dependent flickering when warping an eye. Also think about whether you want to remove
lens distortion before computing disparity. If you do not, your disparity map will become a combined disparity and lens distortion map. This can have advantages and disadvantages. One
disadvantage is if you then do a vertical alignment you are also removing lens distortion effects. When trying to reduce the computation time start first with adjusting the "Proxy and "Num-
ber of Iterations sliders.
The Disparity tool does not support RoI or DoD.
Inputs / Outputs
Left Input
Connect either the left eye image or the stacked image.
Right Input
Connect the right eye image. This input is invisible unless StackMode is set to Separate.
Left Output
This holds the left eye image with a new disparity channel, or a stacked mode image with a new disparity channel.
Right Output
This holds the right eye image with a new disparity channel. This output is only visible if StackMode is set to "Separate".
Controls
Proxy (for tracking)

The input images are re-sized down by the proxy scale, tracked to produce the disparity, and then the resulting dispa-
rities are scaled back up. This option is purely to speed up calculation of the Disparity which can be slow. The compu-
tational time is roughly proportional to the number of pixels in the image. This means a proxy scale of 2 will give a 4x
speedup and a proxy scale of 3 will give a 9x speedup. In general 1:1 proxy will give the most detailed flow, but keep in
mind that this is highly dependent on the amount of noise and film grain, which if present in large quantities can com-
pletely obliterate any gains moving form 2:1 to 1:1 proxy and in some situations even make things worse (in some sense
you can think of the Proxy setting as acting as a simplistic low-pass filter for removing noise/grain).
Stack Mode
Determines how the input images are stacked.
When set to Separate the Right Input & Output will appear and separate left and right images need to be connected.
Swap Eyes
With stacked mode, image stereo pairs, left and right images can be swapped.
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Dimension Tools
[Dis] Overview Quickstart Dimension Tools
Disparity
Advanced
The advanced control section has parameter controls to tune the disparity map calculations,the default settings have
been chosen to be the best default values from experimentation with many different shots and should serve as a good
standard. In most cases, tweeking of the advanced settings will not be needed.
Smoothness
This controls the smoothness of the disparity.Higher smoothness helps deal with noise, while lower smoothness brings
out more detail.
Edges
This slider is another control for smoothness but applies smoothing based upon the color channel.It tends to have the
effect of determining how edges in the disparity follow edges in the color images. When it is set to "Loose", the dispa-
rity becomes smoother and tends to overshoot edges. When it is set to"Tight", edges in the disparity align more tightly
with the edges in the color images and details from the color channels start to slip into the disparity which is not usually
desirable.
As a rough guideline, if you are using the disparity to produce a Z-channel for post effects like depth of field then you
can experiment with making it tighter but, if you are using the disparity to do interpolation, you might want to keep it
looser.
As a rough guideline, if you are using the disparity to produce a Z-channel for post effects like depth of field then you
can experiment with making it tighter but, if you are using the disparity to do interpolation, you might want to keep it
looser.
In general, if it is too tight, there can be problems with streaked out edges when the disparity is used for interpolation.
Match Weight
This controls how the matching of neighborhoods in the left to neighborhoods in the right image is done. When set
to "Match Color", large structural color features are matched. When set to "Match Edges", small sharp variations in the
color are matched.Typically, a good value for this slider is in the [0.7, 0.9] range although on some shots values closer
to 0.0 work well.Setting this option higher tends to improve the matching results in the presence of differences due to
smoothly varying shadows or local lighting variations between the left and right images.The user should still do a color
match on the initial images so they are as similar as possible, this option tends to help with local variations (eg. lighting
differences due to light passing through a mirror rig).
Mismatch Penalty
This controls how the penalty for mismatched regions grows as they become more dissimilar.The slider gives the choice
between a balance of "Quadratic" and "Linear" penalties."Quadratic" strongly penalizes large dissimilarities while "Line-
ar" is more robust to dissimilar matches.Moving this slider toward quadratic tends to give a disparity with more small
random variations in it while linear produces smoother, more visually pleasing results.
Number of Warps
Turning this option down makes the disparity computations faster. In particular, the computational time depends linearly
upon this option. To understand what this option does, you need to understand that the disparity algorithm progressi-
vely warps the left image until it matches with the right image. After some point, convergence is reached and additional
warps are just a waste of computational time. The default value in Fusion is set high enough that convergence should
always be reached. You can tweak this value to speed up the computations but it is good to watch how the disparity is
degrading in quality at the same time.
Number of Iterations
Turning this option down makes the disparity computations faster. In particular, the computational time depends
linearly upon on this option. Just like adjusting "Number of Warps", at some point adjusting this option higher will give
diminishing returns and not produce significantly better results.By default, this value is set to something that should
converge for all possible shots and can be tweaked lower fairly often without reducing the disparity's quality.
Filtering
This controls filtering operations used during flow generation. Catmull-Rom filtering will produce better results but at
the same time turning on Catmull-Rom will increase the computation time steeply.
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Dimension Tools
[D2Z] Overview Quickstart Dimension Tools
Disparity To Z
Description:
DisparityToZ takes a 3D camera and an image containing a disparity channel as inputs and outputs the same image but with a newly computed z channel.
Optionally, this tool can output Z into the RGB channels. Ideally, either a stereo Camera3D or a tracked stereo camera is connected into DisparityToZ, however, if no camera is connected, the
tool provides artistic controls for determining a z channel. The depth created by this tool can be used for post effects like fogging or depth of field.
The Z values produced become more incorrect the larger (negative) they get. The reason is that disparity approaches a constant value as z approaches -infinity. So Z = -1000 and Z = -10000
and Z = -100000 may map to D=142.4563 and D=142.4712 and D=142.4713. As you can see, there is only 0.0001 in D to distinguish between 10,000 and 100,000 in Z. The maps produced by
Disparity are not accurate enough to make distinctions like this.
Inputs / Outputs
Left Input
connect either the left eye image or the stack image
Right Input
StereoCamera
A stereo camera
Left Output
Holds the left eye image with a new Z channel, or a stacked mode image with a new Z channel.
Right Output
Holds the right eye image with a new Z channel. This output is only visible if StackMode is Separate.
Controls
In addition to outputting z values in the Z channel, this option promotes the color channels to float32 and outputs the
Z values into the color channels as { z, z, z, 1 }. This option is useful to get a quick look to see what the z channel looks
like. Note that Dimensions z values are negative, getting more negative the further you are from the camera, so you
will need view normalization on to see them correctly.
Output Z to RGB
Rather than keeping the Z values within the associated aux-channel only, they will be copied into the RGB channels
for further modification with any of Fusions tools.
Refine Z
This option refines the depth map based upon the RGB channels. The refinement causes edges in the flow to align more
closely to edges in the color channels. The downside is that unwanted details in the color channels start to show up in
the flow. You may want to experiment with using this option to soften out harsh edges for z-channel post effects like
depth of field or fogging.
HiQ Only
This option only processes in HiQ.
Strength
Increasing this slider does two things. It smooths out the depth in constant color regions and moves edges in the Z
channel to correlate with edges in the RGB channels.
Increasing the refinement has the undesirable effect of causing texture in the color channel to show up in the z channel.
You will want to find a balance between the two.
Radius
This is the radius of the smoothing algorithm.
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[D2Z]To Z 183
Dimension Tools
[D2Z] Overview Quickstart Dimension Tools
Disparity To Z
Camera Tab
If you need correct real-world z values because you are trying to match some effect to an existing scene, you should use
the External Camera options to get precise z values back. If you just want any Z-buffer and are not that particular about
the exact details on how it is offset and scaled, or if there is no camera available, the artistic option might be helpful.
Exernal Mode
An input will appear on the flow to connect an existing stereo Camera3D. This can either be a single stereo Camera3D
(ie. its eye separation is set to non-zero), or a pair of (tracked) Camera3Ds connected together via the Camera3D.Stereo.
RightCamera input.
Artistic Mode
If you do not have a camera, you can adjust these controls to produce an "artistic" Z channel whose values will not be
physically correct but still useful. To reconstruct the disparity -> z curve, pick (D, Z) values for a point in the foreground
and a point in the background.
If artistic mode is a little too "artistic" for you and you want more physically-based parameters to adjust (eg. like conver-
gence and eye separation), you can always create a bogus Camera3D, connect it into the DisparityToZ.Camera input, and
then fiddle with the Camera3D's controls.
Foreground Disparity (pick from left eye)

This is the disparity for the closest foreground object. It will get mapped to depth value specified by the "Foreground
Depth" control. Any objects with disparity outside of the range [ForegroundDisparity, BackgroundDisparity] will have
their disparity values clipped to this range leading to flat areas in the Z channel, so make sure that you pick values that
enclose the actual disparity range.
Background Disparity (pick from left eye)

This is the disparity for the furthest background object. It will get mapped to the depth value specified by the "Back-
ground Depth" control. One way to think of this input is as the upper limit to disparity values for objects at -infinity. This
value should be for the left eye. The corresponding value in the right eye will be the same in magnitude but negative.
Foreground Depth
This is the depth to which "Foreground Disparity" will be mapped. Think of this as the depth of the nearest object. Note
that values here are positive depth
Background Depth
This is the depth to which "Background Disparity" will be mapped. Think of this as the depth of the most distant object.
Falloff
Falloff controls the shape of the depth curve between the requested foreground and background depths. When set to
"hyperbolic", the disparity-depth curve behaves roughly like depth = constant / disparity. When set to "linear", the curve
behaves like depth = constant * disparity. Hyperbolic tends to emphasize z features in the foreground, while linear gives
foreground/background features in the Z channel equal weighting. Unless there's a specific reason not to, prefer hyper-
bolic as it is more physically accurate, while linear does not correspond to nature and is purely for artistic effect.
When set to "hyperbolic", the disparity-depth curve behaves roughly like depth = constant / disparity. When set to "li-
near", the curve behaves like depth = constant * disparity. Hyperbolic tends to emphasize z features in the foreground,
while linear gives foreground/background features in the Z channel equal weighting. Unless there's a specific reason
not to, prefer hyperbolic as it is more physically accurate, while linear does not correspond to nature and is purely for
artistic effect.
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Dimension Tools
[GA] Overview Quickstart Dimension Tools
Global Align
Description:
As opposed to Stereo Align, this tool does not utilize optical flow at all.
It's meant as a fast and covenient way to do simple stereo-alignment for both X and Y as well as rotation.
Global Align comes in handy at the beginning of the tool chain to visually correct major differences between left and right eye,
before calculating Disparity.
Manual correction of large discrepancies between left and right as well as applying an initial color matching helps Disparity to generate more accurate results.
Controls
Translation X and Y
Balance
Determines how the global offset is applied to the stereo footage.
None: No translation is applied
Left: Only the left eye is shifted, while the right eye remains unaltered.
Right: Only the right eye is shifted, while the left eye remains unaltered.
Split: Both left and right eyes are shifted in opposite directions.
Snap to Nearest Pixel

While adjusting the translation slider this option ensures that the image is shifted in full pixel amounts only
to maintain optimum quality.
This avoids sub-pixel rendering of the image which could result in subtle blurring.
Rotation
Balance
Determines how the global rotation is applied to the stereo footage.
None: No rotation is applied
Left: Only the left eye is rotated, while the right eye remains unaltered.
Right: Only the right eye is rotated, while the left eye remains unaltered.
Split: Both left and right eyes are rotated in opposite directions.
Angle
The angle of the rotation. Keep in mind that the result depends on the Balance settings.
If only rotating one eye by e.g. 10 degrees a full 10 degree rotation will be applied to that eye.
When applying rotation in Split mode, one eye will receive a -5 degree and the other eye a +5 degree rotation.
Translation Filter Method

A dropdown to choose a filtermethod which delivers the best results depending on the content of your footage.
Visualization
This control allows for different color-encodings of the left and right eye to conveniently examine the results of the
above controls without the need of adding an extra Anaglyph or Combiner tool.
Set this to "none" for final output.
Stack Mode
Determines how the input images are stacked.
When set to Separate the Right Input & Output will appear and separate left and right images need to be connected.
Swap Eyes
With stacked mode, image stereo pairs, left and right images can be swapped.
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Dimension Tools
[NE] Overview Quickstart Dimension Tools
New Eye
Description:
This option constructs a new eye by interpolating between two existing eyes using the embedded disparity channels. This tool can also be used to replace one view with a warped version of
the other. In stack mode, L and R outputs will output the same image.
This tool can also be used to replace one view with a warped version of the other. In stack mode, L and R outputs will output the same image. Using the separate X/Y factors you can do per-
pixel vertical alignment with this tool, although this is probably better done with StereoAlign.
You can map the left eye onto the right eye and replace it. This can be helpful when removing errors from certain areas of the frame.
NewEye does not interpolate the aux channels, but rather destroys them. In particular, the disparity channels are consumed/destroyed. Add another Disparity tool after the NewEye if you want
to generate disparity for the realigned footage.
Inputs / Outputs
Left Input
Connect either the left eye image or the stacked image.
Right Input
Left Output
This holds the left eye image with a new disparity channel, or a stacked mode image with a new disparity channel.
Right Output
This holds the right eye image with a new disparity channel. This output is only visible if StackMode is set to "Separate".
Controls
Enable
When an eye is enabled, NewEye will replace it with an interpolated eye. For example, if the left eye is your "master" eye
and you are recreating the right eye, you would disable the left eye and enable the right eye.
Lock XY
Locks the X & Y interpolation parameters. When they are unlocked you can provide separate interpolation factors for
using the X & Y disparity. For example, if you are working with the right eye and you have the X interpolation slider set
to 1.0 and the Y interpolation slider set to -1.0, you will be effectively interpolating the left eye onto the right eye but
vertically aligned to the left eye.
Interpolation
Interpolation determines where the frame we are interpolating is relative to the two source frames Left and Right. An
interpolation parameter of -1.0 will give frame Left back and a parameter of 1.0 will give frame Right back. Aparameter
of 0.0 will give a result that is halfway between Left and Right.
An interpolation parameter of -1.0 will give frame Left back and a parameter of 1.0 will give frame Right back. Aparame-
ter of 0.0 will give a result that is halfway between Left and Right.
Depth Ordering
The Depth ordering is used to determine which parts of the image should be rendered on top. When warping images
there is often overlap. When the image overlaps itself, which should be drawn on top, there are two options.
Largest Disparity Ontop

The larger disparity values will be drawn on top in the overlapping image sections.
Smallest Disparity Ontop

Thesmaller disparity values will be drawn on top in the overlapping image sections.
Clamp Edges
Under certain circumstances this option can remove the transparent gaps that may appear on the edges of interpolated
frames. Clamp Edges will cause a stretching artifact near the edges of the frame that is especially visible with objects
moving through it or when the camera is moving.
Because of these artifacts it is a good idea to only use clamp edges to correct small gaps around the edges of an inter-
polated frame.
Softness
Helps to reduce the strechy artifacts that might be introduced by Clamp Edges.
If you have more than one of the "source frame and warp direction" checkboxes turned on, this can lead to doubling up
of the stretching effect near the edges. In this case youll want to keep the softness rather small at around 0.01.
If you only have one checkbox enabled you can use a larger softness at around 0.03).
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Dimension Tools
[NE] Overview Quickstart Dimension Tools
New Eye
Source Frame and Warp Direction

The output of this tool is generated by combining up tofour different warps.You can choose to use either the color
values from the left or right frame in combination with the forward (left -> right) disparity or the backward (right -> left)
disparity. Sometimes you will want to replace an existing eye. For example, if you want to regenerate the right eye, you
would only use left eye warps.
It is good to experiment with various options to see which gives the best effect.
using both the left and right eyes can help fill in gaps on the left/right side of images
using both the forward/backward disparity can give a doubling up effect in places where the disparities disagree
with each other
Left Forward
This will take theLeft frame and use the forwarddisparity to interpolate the new frame.
Right Forward
This will take theRight frame and use the forward disparity to interpolate the new frame.
Left Backward
This will take the Left frame and use theBack disparity to interpolate the new frame.
Right Backward
This will take theRight frame and use the Back disparity to interpolate the new frame.
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Dimension Tools
[OF] Overview Quickstart Dimension Tools
Optical Flow
Description:
This tool computes the optical flow between the frames of the input sequence. The optical flow can be thought of as a per pixel displacement vector which matches up features between two
frames.
The optical flow can be thought of as a per pixel displacement vector which matches up features between two frames.
The computed optical flow is stored within the Vector and BackVector aux channels of the output image. At its highest quality settings, the optical flow tool can be slow to process. If you find
optical flow is too slow, you should consider tweaking the quality settings, using a disk cache, or prerendering it out into OpenEXR files.
At its highest quality settings, the optical flow tool can be slow to process. If you find optical flow is too slow, you should consider tweaking the quality settings, using a disk cache, or preren-
dering it out into OpenEXR files.
There are quite a few quality settings to tweak, many with small or diminishing returns - depending on the settings, there is easily a variation of 10x in rendering time. As a hint to those inte-
rested in reducing process time, try experimenting with the "Proxy", "Number of Iterations", and "Number of Warps" sliders and changing the filtering to bilinear.
OpticalFlow can only work with the frames you allow. If you trim an upstream Loader to a sub frame range, OpticalFlow cannot see beyond the subframe range even if there are additional
frames on disk that it could use.
If the footage input flickers on a frame by frame basis, it is a good idea to deflicker the footage beforehand.
Currently, OpticalFlow will have to render twice for a downstream FlowStretcher or FlowSpeed to evaluate. This is because FlowSpeed needs A.FwdVec and B.BackVec to work but OpicalFlow
generates A.BackVec and A.FwdVec when it processes.
When pre-generating optical flow vectors, consider adding a SmoothMotion tool afterward with smoothing for forward/backward vectors enabled.
Inputs / Outputs
Input
This is the sequence of images for which you want to compute optical flow.
Output
This is the sequence of images with the optical flow stored in its Vector and BackVector channels.
Controls
Proxy (for tracking)

The input images are re-sized down by the proxy scale, and tracked to produce the optical flow. This option is purely to
speed up calculation of the optical flow. The computational time is roughly proportional to the number of pixels in the
image. This means a proxy scale of 2 will give a 4x speedup and a proxy scale of 3 will give a 9x speedup.
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Dimension Tools
[OF] Overview Quickstart Dimension Tools
Optical Flow
Advanced
The advanced control section has parameter controls to tune the opticalflow vector calculations. The default settings
have been chosen to be the best default values from experimentation with many different shots and should serve as a
good standard. In most cases, tweaking of the advanced settings will not be needed.
Smoothness
This controls the smoothness of the optical flow.Higher smoothness helps deal with noise, while lower smoothness
brings out more detail.
Edges
This slider is another control for smoothness but applies smoothing based upon the color channel. It tends to have the
effect of determining how edges in the flow follow edges in the color images. When it is set to "Loose", the optical flow
becomes smoother and tends to overshoot edges. When it is set "Tight", details from the color images start to slip into
the optical flow, which is not desirable, and edges in the flow more tightly align with the edges in the color images.As a
rough guideline, if you are using the disparity to produce a z-channel for post effects like DoF, then prefer it tight, and if
you are using the disparity to do interpolation, you might want to be looser.
In general, if it is too tight, there can be problems with streaked out edges when theoptical flowis used for interpolation.
Match Weight
This controls how the matching of neighborhoods in the subsequent image is done. When set to "Match Color", large
structural color features are matched. When set to "Match Edges", small sharp variations in the color are matched.
Typically, a good value for this slider is in the [0.7, 0.9] range although on some shots' values closer to 0.0 work well.
Setting this option higher tends to improve the matching results in the presence of differences due to smoothly varying
shadows or local lighting variations between the left and right images.The user should still do a color match or deflicke-
ring on the initial images if necessary so they are as similar as possible. This option also helps with local variations like
lighting differences due to light passing through a mirror rig.
Mismatch Penalty
This option controls how the penalty for mismatched regions grows as they become more dissimilar.The slider gives the
choice between a balance of "Quadratic" and "Linear" penalties."Quadratic" strongly penalizes large dissimilarities while
"Linear" is more robust to dissimilar matches.Moving this slider toward quadratic tends to give a disparity with more
small random variations in it while linear produces smoother more visually pleasing results.
Number of Warps
Turning this option down makes theoptical flowcomputations faster. In particular, the computational time depends
linearly upon this option. To understand what this option does, you need to understand that theoptical flowalgorithm
progressively warps one image until it matches with the other image. After some point, convergence is reached and ad-
ditional warps are just a waste of computational time. The default value in Fusion is set high enough that convergence
should always be reached. You can tweak this value to speed up the computations but it is good to watch what the
optical flow is doing at the same time.
Number of Iterations
Turning this option down makes the computations faster. In particular the computational time depends linearly upon
this option. Just like adjusting "Number of Warps", at some point adjusting this option higher will give diminishing
returns and not produce significantly better results.By default this value is set to something that should converge for all
possible shots and can be tweaked lower fairly often without reducing the disparity's quality.
Filtering
This controls filtering operations used during flow generation. Catmull-Rom filtering will produce better results but at
the same time turning on Catmull-Rom will increase the computation time steeply.
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Dimension Tools
[Rep] Overview Quickstart Dimension Tools
Repair Frame
Description:
RepairFrame is used for replacing damaged or missing frames or portions of frames with scratches or other temporally transient artifacts.
You can use the mask input to limit the repairs to certain areas. If your footage varies in color from frame to frame, sometimes the repair can be noticeable because to fill in the hole, Repair-
Frame needs to pull color values from adjacent frames. Consider some kind of deflickering, color correction, and/or using a soft edged mask to help reduce these kinds of artifacts.
RepairFrame replaces parts of a frame by examining its two neighboring frames and thus requires three sequential frames as opposed to FlowStretcher/FlowSpeed, which work between two
sequential frames to create a new inbetween frame.
Unlike FlowStretcher and FlowSpeed, RepairFrame does not require nor need input Vector/BackVectors in order to work. An upstream OpticalFlow is not required.
RepairFrame internally will compute the optical flow it needs. This can make it slow to process. RepairFrame will not pass through, but rather destroy, any aux channels after the computation is
done.
See the Optical Flow Tool for control and setting information
Controls
Depth Ordering
The Depth Ordering is used to determine which parts of the image should be rendered on top. This is best explained by
an example.
In a locked off camera shot where a car is moving through the frame, the background does not move, so it will produce
small or slow vectors,
while the car will produce larger or faster vectors.
The depth ordering in this case is Fastest Ontop since the car will draw over the background.
In a shot where the camera pans to follow the car, the background will have faster vectors and the car will have slower
vectors, so the Depth ordering method would be Slowest Ontop.
Clamp Edges
polated frame.
Softness

This control set allows for the choosing of which frames and which vectors are used to create the in between frames.
Each method ticked on will be blended into the result.
Prev Forward will take the previous frame and use the forward vector to interpolate the new frame.
Next Forward will take the next frame in the sequence and use the forward vector to interpolate the new frame.
Prev Backward will take the previous frame and use the back forward vector to interpolate the new frame.
Next Backward will take the next frame in the sequence and use the back vector to interpolate the new frame.
Advanced
Please see the Advanced Controls chapter of Optical flow.
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[Rep]
Frame 190
Dimension Tools
[SM] Overview Quickstart Dimension Tools
Smooth Motion
Description:
This tool takes an image sequence and smoothes it using optical flow to look at neighboring frames.
It is important that the input sequence has precomputed Vector and BackVector channels contained in it otherwise this tool will print error messages.
Check on the channels you want to temporally smooth. If a channel selected for smoothing is not present, SmoothMotion will not fail nor will it print any error messages.
SmoothMotion was initially designed for smoothing of the Disparity channel where it helps reduce temporal edge/fringing artifacts.
It can also be used to smooth the Vector and BackVector channels however do be aware that in various situations this can make the interpolated results worse, especially if there are conflicting
motions or objects in the shot that move around erratically, jitter, or bounce rapidly.
One thing you can try is using two or more SmoothMotion tools in sequence to get additional smoothing.With one SmoothMotion tool, the previous, current, and next frames are examined
for a total of 3, with 2 SmoothMotion tools 5 frames are examined and with 3 SmoothMotion tools 7 frames are examined.
Another thing you can try is using 2 SmoothMotion tools but in the first tool enable the smoothing of the Vector and BackVector channels and in the second SmoothMotion enable the chan-
nels you want to smooth (eg. Disparity). This way you use the smoothed vector channels to smooth Disparity.
You can also try using the smoothed motion channels to smooth the motion channels.
Controls
Channel
SmoothMotion can be applied to more than just the RGBA channels. It can also do all of the other Aux channel groups
in Fusion.
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[SM]
Motion 191
Dimension Tools
[SA] Overview Quickstart Dimension Tools
Stereo Align
Description:
This extremely versatile tool for fixing Stereo issues can be used for doing any of the following or combinations of:
Vertical Alignment of one eye to the other

Changing the convergence
Changing the eye separation
By combining these operations in one tool, you can execute them using only a single image resampling.
In essence, this tool can be thought of as applying scales and translation to the disparities and then using the modified disparities to interpolate between the views.
Changing the eye separation can cause a lot of holes to appear and it may not be possible to fill them since the information needed may not be in either image. Even if the information is
there, the disparity may have mismatched the holes. You may have to fill the holes in manually.
For now, this tool will modify just the RGBA channels.
StereoAlign does not interpolate the aux channels, but rather destroys them. In particular, the disparity channels are consumed/destroyed. Add another Disparity tool after the StereoAlign if
you want to generate disparity for the realigned footage.
Controls
VerticalAlignment
This option determines how the vertical alignment is split between two eyes. Usually the left eye is declared inviolate
and the right eye is aligned to it to avoid resampling artifacts.
When doing per pixel vertical alignment, it may be helpful to roughly pre-align the images by a global y-shift before
disparity computation because the disparity generation algorithm can have problems resolving small objects which
move large distances.
Also note that you have to be careful about lens distortion because, even if two cameras are perfectly vertically aligned,
they will still have vertical disparities due to lens distortion. It is probably a good idea to remove the lens distortion
before computing the disparity since, by doing a vertical alignment of the right eye, you are in effect removing the y-
component of the lens distortion in the right eye and it will look wrong later when you try to redistort it.
Right
Only the right eye is adjusted.
Left
Only the left eye is adjusted.
Both
The vertical alignment is split evenly between the left and right eyes.
Mode
Global
The eyes are simply translated up or down by the y-shift to match up.
Per Pixel
The eyes are warped pixel-by-pixel using the disparity to vertically align.
Keep in mind that this can introduce sampling artifacts and edge artifacts.
YShift
YShift is only available in global mode. You can either adjust the YShift manually to get a match or drag the pick button
which picks from the disparity channel of the left eye. Also remember that, if you use this tool to modify disparity, you
cant pick from the tool's output.
Snap
You can snap the global shift to whole pixels using this option. In this mode there is no resampling of the image, but
rather a simple shift is done so there will be no softening or image degradation.
Convergence
Convergence is just a global x-translation of L/R images.
Eyes
This determines which eyes are affected by convergence. In most cases, this will be set to both.
If you set the eyes to Both/Split then the convergence will be shared 50-50 between both eyes.
Sharing the convergence between both eyes means you get half the shift in each eye which in turn means smaller holes
and artifacts that need to be fixed later.
The tradeoff is that youve resampled both eyes now rather than keeping one eye as a pure reference master.
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Dimension Tools
[SA] Overview Quickstart Dimension Tools
Stereo Align
ShiftX
ShiftX can be picked from the disparity channels for easy point to feature alignment.
Snap
You can snap the global shift to whole pixels using this option. In this mode there is no resampling of the image, but
rather a simple shift is done so there will be no softening or image degradation.
Eye Separation
Eye separation changes the distance between the left/right eyes, causing objects in the left/right eyes to converge/di-
verge further apart depending on their distance from the camera.
This has the same effect as "Eye Separation" option in Camera3D.
Separation
This is ascale factor for eye separation.
When set to 0.0 this leaves the eyes unchanged.

Setting it to 0.1 increases the shifts of all objects in the scene by a factor of 10% in each eye.
Setting it to 0.1 will scale the shifts of all objects 10% smaller.
Unlike the "Split" option for vertical alignment which splits the alignment effect 50-50 between both eyes, the "Both"
option will apply 100-100 eye separation to both eyes.
If you are changing eye separation, itcan be a good idea to enable per-pixel vertical alignment or the results of interpo-
lating from both frames can double up.
Stack Mode
In stack mode L and R outputs will output the same image.
If HiQ is off, the interpolations are done using nearest neighbor sampling leading to a more "noisy" result.
Clamp Edges
polated frame.
Softness
Example
Different settings for Eye Separation:
and Convergence:
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Dimension Tools
[Tw] Overview Quickstart Dimension Tools
Tween
Description:
Tween constructs an in between frame by interpolating between two frames using the optical flow. Tween is nearly identical in functionality to FlowSpeed and FlowStretcher. The major
difference is that it works on two images that are not serial members of a sequence. As a consequence, it cannot use the Vector or BackVector aux channels stored in the images and it must
manually generate the optical flow. There is no need to add an upstream OpticalFlow tool. The generated optical flow is thrown away and not stored back into the output frames.
Since optical flow is based upon color matching, it is a good idea to color correct your images to match ahead of time. Also, if you are having trouble with noisy images, it may also help to
remove some of the noise ahead of time.
Tween will destroy any input aux channels.
See the Optical Flow Tool for control and setting information
Inputs / Outputs
InputA
This is an image to interpolate from.
InputB
This is an image to interpolate to.
Output
This is the interpolated image.
Controls
Interpolation Parameter
This option determines where the frame we are interpolating is relative to the two source frames A and B. An Interpola-
tion Parameter of 0.0 will give frame A back, a parameter of 1.0 will give frame B back, and a parameter of 0.5 will give a
result that is halfway between A and B.
Depth Ordering
The Depth ordering is used to determine which parts of the image should be rendered on top. This is best explained by
an example.
In a locked off camera shot where a car is moving through the frame, the background does not move, so will produce
small or slow vectors. The car will produce larger or Faster vectors.
The Depth Ordering in this case is Fastest Ontop since the car will draw over the background.
In a shot where the camera pans to follow the car, the background will have faster vectors and the car will have slower
vectors, so the Depth ordering method would be Slowest Ontop.
Clamp Edges
polated frame.
Softness

This control set allows for the choosing of which frames and which vectors are used to create the in between frames.
Each method ticked on will be blended into the result.
Next Forward will take the next frame in the sequence and use the forward vector to interpolate the new frame.
Prev Backward will take the previous frame and use the Back forward vector to interpolate the new frame.
Next Backward will take the next frame in the sequence and use the back vector to interpolate the new frame.
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Dimension Tools
[Z2D] Overview Quickstart Dimension Tools
Z To Disparity
Description:
ZToDisparity takes a stereo camera and an image containing a z channel and outputs the same image but with disparity channels in it.
This is useful for constructing a disparity map from CG renders, which will be more accurate than the disparity map created from the Disparity generator tool.
Inputs / Outputs
Left
This is the left image or stack input.
Right
This is the right image.
StereoCamera
A stereo perspective camera may be either a Camera3D with eye separation or a tracked L/R Camera3D.
Left Output
This is the left image or stack output containing new disparity channel.
Right Output
Right Output
This is the right image that contains anew disparity channel. This output will be hidden in stack mode.
Controls
Output Disparity to RGB

In addition to outputting disparity values into the Disparity channel, this option causes ZToDisparity to also output the
disparity values into the color channels as { x, y, 0, 1 }. When enabled, this option will automatically promote the RGBA
color channels to float32. This option is usefulfor a quick look to see what the Disparity channel looks like.
Refine Disparity
This refines the Disparity map based upon the RGB channels.
Strength
Increasing this slider does two things. It smoothes out the depth in constant color regions and moves edges in the Z
channel to correlate with edges in the RGB channels.
Increasing the refinement has the undesirable effect of causing texture in the color channel to show up in the z channel.
You will want to find a balance between the two.
Radius
This is the pixel-radius of the smoothing algorithm.
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Dimension Tools
[Z2D] Overview Quickstart Dimension Tools
Z To Disparity
Camera Tab
If you need correct real-world Disparity values because you are trying to match some effect to an existing scene, you
should use the External Camera options to get precise Disparity values back. If you just want any Disparity and do not
particular care about the exact details on how it is offset and scaled, or if there is no camera available, then the artistic
option might be helpful.
External
An input will appear on the flow to connect an existing stereo Camera3D, and use the Camera settings to determine the
Disparity Settings.
Artistic
If you do not have a camera, you can adjust these controls to produce an "artistic" Disparity channel whose values will
not be physically correct but good enough for compositing hacks. There are two controls to adjust:
Convergence Point
This is the z value of the convergence plane. This corresponds to the negative of the Convergence Distance control that
appears in Camera3D. At this distance, objects in the left and right eyes are at exactly the same position (ie. have zero
disparity). Objects closer appear to pop out of the screen, and objects further appear behind the screen.
Background Disparity (pick from left eye)

This is the disparity of objects in the distant background. You can think of this as the upper limit to disparity values for
objects at -infinity. This value should be for the left eye. The corresponding value in the right eye will be the same in
magnitude but negative.
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Effect Tools
Highlight Hot Spot Pseudo Color Shadow Smee Hee
Trails TV

Effect Tools
[HiL] Effect Tools
Highlight
Description:
The Highlight filter creates star-shaped highlights in bright regions of the image, similar to a lens star filter effect.
Settings Tab
Low And High

This range control designates the range of luminance values in the image that will generate highlights. Values
less than the Low value will not receive highlights. Values above the High value will receive the full highlight
effect.
Curve
The Curve value changes the drop off over the length of the highlight. Higher values will cause the brightness
of the flares to drop off closer to the center of the highlight, whereas lower values will drop off further from
the center.
Length
This designates the Length of the flares from the highlight.
Number Of Points
This determines the number of flares emanating from the highlight.
Angle
Use this control to rotate the highlights.
Merge Over
When this checkbox is on, it will overlay the effect on the original image. With the checkbox off, the output
will be the highlights only. This is useful for downstream color correction of the highlights.
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Effect Tools
Effect Tools
Highlight
Color Scale Tab
Red, Green And Blue Scale

Moving the sliders of one or all of these channels down will change the falloff color of the highlight.
Alpha Scale
Moving the alpha slider down will make highlight falloff more transparent.
Highlight Masks
The Highlight tool offers an additional mask input called the Highlight Mask. This is a pre-mask that determines what
pixels can be affected by the highlight before the highlight is applied. Unlike regular masks, it will not crop off highlights
from source pixels when the highlight extends past the masks edges.
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Effect Tools
[Hot] Effect Tools
Hot Spot
Description:
The Hot Spot tool is used to create lens flare, spotlight and burn/dodge effects of various types.
In the real world, lens flares occur when extremely bright light sources present in the scene by the reflections are reflected of elements inside the lens of the camera. One might see lens flares
in a shot when viewing a strong light source through a camera lens, like the sun or a bright star.
Hot Spot Tab
Primary Center X And Y

This is the position of the Primary Hot Spot within the scene. Secondary lens elements and reflections are
positioned relative to the position of the primary.
Primary Strength
This control determines the brightness of the primary hotspot.
HotSpot Size
This control determines the diameter of the primary Hotspot. A value of 1.0 represents a circle the full width of
the image.
Aspect
This controls the Aspect of the spot. A value of 1.0 produces a perfectly circular hotspot. Values above 1.0 will
elongate the circle horizontally and values below 1.0 will elongate the circle vertically.
Aspect Angle
This control can be used to rotate the primary hotspot.
Secondary Strength
This control determines the strength, which is to say the brightness, of the secondary hotspot. The secondary
hotspot is a reflection of the primary hotspot. It will always be positioned on the opposite side of the image
from the primary hotspot.
Secondary Size
This determines the size of the secondary hotspot.
Apply Mode
This control determines how the hotspot affects the underlying image.
Add (Burn)
This causes the spots created to brighten the image.
Subtract (Dodge)
This causes the spots created to dim the image.
Multiply (Spotlight)
This causes the spots created to isolate a portion of the image with light and to darken the remainder of the
image.
Occlude
Use this button array to select which channel of the image connected to the HotSpot tool's occlusion input is
used to provide the occlusion matte.
Occlusion happens when the source of the hotspot is blocked by something between it and the camera. When
the source of a hotspot is occluded, the hotspot simply winks out.
Occlusion can be controlled from Alpha or R ,G or B channels of any image connected to the occlusion input
on the tool's tile. The white pixels in the image will occlude the hotspot. Grey pixels will partially suppress the
hotspot.
Lens Aberration
Aberration changes the shape and behavior of the primary and secondary hotspots.
In And Out Modes

Elongate the shape of the hotspot into a flare. The hotspot stretches toward the center of the image when in
In mode, stretching toward the corners when in Out mode.
Flare In And Flare Out Modes

This option is a lens distortion effect that is controlled by the movement of the lens effect. Flare In will cause
the effect to become more severe the closer the hotspot gets to the center. Flare Out causes the effect to
increase as the hotspot gets closer to the edges of the image.
Lens
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Effect Tools
Effect Tools
Hot Spot
This mode emulates a round, ringed lens effect.
Aberration
The Aberration slider controls the overall strength of the lens aberration effect.
Color Tab
Color Channel And Mix

When selected, these checkbox controls enable the editing of the chosen splines in the LUT below.
Red, Green, Blue, And Alpha Splines

The Red, Green, Blue and Alpha splines are used to adjust the color of the spotlight along the radius of the
hotspot.
The vertical axis represents the intensity or strength of the color channel, from a value of 0 at the bottom to 1
at the top. The horizontal axis represents the position along the radius of the hotspot, from the outside edge
on the left to the inside on the right.
So the default curve of the tool indicates that the red, green, blue and alpha channels all have a linear falloff
from the outside edge of the curve to the inside edge.
Mix Spline
The Mix spline is used to determine the influence of the controls that the Radial tab will have along the radius
of the hotspot. The horizontal axis represents the position along the circle's circumference, with 0 being 0 de-
grees and 1.0 being 360 degrees. The vertical axis represents the amount of the radial hotspot to blend with
the color hotspot. A value of 0 is all radial hotspot, while a value of 1.0 is all color hotspot.
Note
Right-clicking in the LUT will display a context menu with options related to modifying spline curves.
A complete description of LUT editor controls and options can be found in the Tool Controls chapter of this
manual.
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Effect Tools
Effect Tools
Hot Spot
Radial Tab
Radial On
When selected this control enables the Radial splines. Otherwise the radial matte created by the splines is not
applied to the hotspot, and theMix spline in the color controls will have no affect on the hotspot.
Radial Length And Radial Density Splines

The key to these splines is realizing that the LUT editor's horizontal axis represents a position around the
circumference of the hotspot. A value of 0.0 is 0 degrees and 1.0 is 360 degrees. With that in mind, the length
determines the radius of the light making up the hotspot along the circumference, and the density represents
how bright the light is along the circumference.
Radial Repeat
This control will repeat the effect of the radial splines by X number of times. For example, a repeat of 2.0
causes the spline to take effect between 0 and 180 degrees instead of 0 and 360, repeating the spline again
between 180 and 360.
Length Angle
This control will rotate the effect of the Radial Length spline around the circumference of the hotspot.
Density Angle
This control will rotate the effect of the Radial Density spline around the circumference of the hotspot.
Note
Right-clicking in the spline area will display a context menu containing options related to modifying spline
curves
A complete description of LUT editor controls and options can be found in the Tool Controls chapter of this
manual.

Effect Tools
Effect Tools
Hot Spot
L1, L2 And L3 Tab
Lens Reflect 1-3

When selected, the reflection caused by the element is enabled.
Element Strength
This determines the brightness of element reflections.
Element Size
This determines the size of element reflections.
Element Position
This determines the distance of element reflections from the axis. The axis is calculated as a line between the
hotspot position and the center of the image.
Element Type
Use this array of buttons to choose the shape and density of the element reflections. The presets available are
described below.
Circular
This creates slightly soft-edged circular shaped reflections.
Soft Circular
This creates very soft-edged circular shaped reflections.
Circle
This creates a hard-edged circle shape.
NGon Solid
This creates a filled polygon with a variable number of sides.
NGon Star
This creates a very soft-edged star shape with a variable number of sides.
NGon Shaded Out

This creates soft-edged circular shapes.
NGon Shaded In
This creates a polygon with a variable number of sides, which has a very soft reversed (dark center, bright
radius) circle.
Ngon Angle
This control is used to determine the angle of the NGon shapes.
Ngon Sides
This control is used to determine the amount of sides used when the Element Type is set to Ngon Star, Ngon
Shaded Out, and Ngon Shaded In.
Ngon Starriness
This control is used to bend polygons into star shapes. The higher the value the more star-like the shape.
Lens Color Controls

These controls determine the color of the lens that affects the colors of the reflections. To choose a lens color,
pick one from a displayed image, or enter RGBA values using the sliders or input boxes.

Effect Tools
[PsCl] Effect Tools
Pseudo Color
Description:
The Pseudo Color Tool provides the ability to produce variations of color based on waveforms generated by the tools controls. Static or animated variances of the original image can be produ-
ced. The tool's controls are separated into four identical tabs, one for each of the color channels.
R / G / B / A Tabs
Color Check Box

When selected, this color channel will be affected by the Pseudo Color tool.
Wrap
When selected, waveform values that exceed allowable parameter values will be wrapped to the opposite
extreme.
High And Low

High and Low determine the range to be affected by the tool in a specific color channel.
Soft Edge
This slider determines the soft edge of color transition.
Waveform
This selects the type of Waveform to be created by the generator. Four waveforms are available Sine, Triangle,
Sawtooth and Square.
Frequency
This controls the Frequency of the waveform selected. Higher values will increase the number of occurrences
of the variances.
Phase
This modifies the Phase of the waveform. Animating this control will produce color cycling effects.
Mean
This determines the level or Mean value of the waveform selected. Higher values will increase the overall
brightness of the channel until the allowed maximum is reached.
Amplitude
Amplitute increases or decreases the overall power of the waveform.
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Effect Tools
[Sh] Effect Tools
Shadow
Description:
Shadow is a versatile tool used in the creation of shadows that are based on the alpha channel information from an image. It is also possible to use an additional image to control the
shadow's apparent depth.
The Shadow Tool is designed to cast simple 2D shadows. Use a spotlight tool and an image plane tool for full 3D shadow casting.
Controls
Shadow Offset
This control sets the apparent distance of the shadowed object from the background. Adjusting the position
of the Shadow Offset crosshair in the views is the quickest way to create simple drop shadows.
Softness
Softness controls how blurry the shadow's edges appear. The further the background is from the object, the
fuzzier it becomes.
Shadow Color
Use this control to select the color of the shadow. The most realistic shadows are usually the ones that are not
totally black and razor sharp.
Light Position
This control sets the position of the light relative to the shadow-casting object. The Light Position is only taken
into consideration when the Light Distance slider is NOT set to infinity (1.0).
Light Distance
This slider will vary the apparent distance of the light between infinity (1) and being at zero distance from
the shadow-casting object. The advantage of setting the Light Distance is that the resulting shadow is more
realistic-looking with the further parts of the shadow being longer than those that are closer.
Minimum Depth Map Light Distance

This control is active when an image is connected to shadow's Depth Map input. The slider is used to control
the amount that the depth map contributes to the Light Distance. Dark areas of a depth map make the sha-
dow deeper. White areas bring it closer to the camera.
Z Map Channel
This menu is used to select which color channel of the image connected to the tools Z Map input will be used
to create the shadows depth map. Selections exist for the RGB and A, Luminance and Z buffer channels.
Output
The Output image can either contain the image with shadow applied or the shadow only.
Changing the setting in the output drop-down list controls which mode will be used. This method is useful
when color correction, perspective or other effects need to be applied to the resulting shadow before it is
merged back with the object.
For example, shadow alpha controls the shadow's degree of transparency.
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Effect Tools
[Smeg] Effect Tools
Smee Hee
Description:
SmeeHee is a versatile tool used in the creation of various optical effects. It's the Red Dwarf of Fusions toolset. Based on a research paper which was published by the Committee for the Libe-
ration and Integration of Terrifying Organisms and their Rehabilitation Into Society it can create mindbending effects like sub-space conduits, tachyon surges or even chromatic aberration.
Controls
Center X/Y
This is the position of the Center from where this effect will be calculated. Think of it like a time tunnel to a
parallel universe.
Smee
The main control over the influence of the effect. The higher the setting the more the resulting effect looks
like a armour-plated alien killing machine.
The image above shows various Smee settings between 1 and 10.
Hee
Use this control to add a glow to your Smeeded scene. The bigger the Hee the stronger the glow.
The image above shows various Hee settings between 1 and 4.
Rimmer
Rimmer offers you a set of deep space controls. Think of this control like being able to overload the time
matrix.
The image above shows various Rimmer settings as described below.
Arnold
Basic Rimmer. Just a tiny little bit
Duke
Stronger Rimmer. The effect shows more clearly and has a stronger influence.
Big Man
A more powerful variation of Rimmer. Likely to create much stronger results than the other two.
Ace
Put the pedal to the metal. Use with caution. This might have negative influence on the time-space-continu-
um.
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Effect Tools
[Trls] Effect Tools
Trails
Description:
The Trails Tool is used to create a ghost-like after-trail of the image. This creates an interesting effect when applied to moving images with an alpha channel. Unlike a directional blur, only the
preceding motion of an image is displayed as part of the effect.
Controls
Restart
This control clears the image buffer and displays a clean frame, without any of the ghosting effect.
Preroll
This will make the trails tool pre-render the effect by the number of frames on the slider.
Reset/Pre-Roll On Render
When this checkbox is enabled, the trails tool will reset itself when a preview or final render is initiated. It will
Preroll the designated number of frames.
This Time Only

Selecting this checkbox will make the pre-roll use this current frame only, and not the previous frames.
Number Of Preroll Frames

This determines the number of frames to Preroll.
Lock RGBA
When selected, this checkbox allow the Gain of the color channels to be controlled independently. This allows
for tinting of the trails effect.
Lock Scale X/Y

When selected, this checkbox allows the X and Y axis scaling of the image buffer to be manipulated separately
for each axis.
Lock Blur X/Y

When selected, this checkbox allows the blurring of the image buffer to be controlled separately for each axis.
Gain
The Gain control affects the overall intensity and brightness of the image in the buffer. Lower values in this
parameter will create a much shorter, fainter trail, whereas higher values will create a longer, more solid trail.
Rotate
The Rotate control rotates the image in the buffer before the current frame is merged into the effect.
Offset X/Y
These controls offset the image in the buffer before the current frame is merged into the effect. Control is
given over each axis independently.
Scale
The Scale control resizes the image in the buffer before the current frame is merged into the effect.
Blur Size
The Blur Size control applies a blur to the image in the buffer before the current frame is merged into the
effect.
Apply Mode
This menu is used to determine the method used by the trails tool when merging one sample over another.
The methods in this menu are documented more completely in the Merge tool's documentation in the Com-
posite Tools chapter of this manual.
Operator Mode
This menu is used to select to determine how the foreground and background are combined to produce a
result.
The menu will only be visible when the tool's Apply mode is set to Normal.
For an excellent description of the math underlying the operation modes, read Compositing Digital Images,
Porter, T., and T. Duff, SIGGRAPH 84 proceedings, pages 253-259. Essentially, the math is as described below.
Note that some modes not listed in the Operator dropdown (under, in, held in, below) are easily obtained by
swapping the foreground and background inputs (with Ctrl+W) and choosing a corresponding mode.
The formula used to combine pixels in the merge is always fg * x + bg * y. The different operations determine
exactly what x and y are, as shown in the description for each mode.
Over
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Effect Tools
[Trls] Effect Tools
Trails
The Over mode adds the FG layer to the BG layer by replacing the pixels in the BG with the pixels from the Z where-
ver the FG's alpha channel is greater than 1.
x = 1, y = 1-[foreground alpha]
In
The In mode multiplies the alpha channel of the BG input against the pixels in the FG. The color channels of the FG
input are ignored. Only pixels from the FG are seen in the final output. This essentially clips the FG using the mask
from the BG.
x = [background alpha], y = 0
Held Out
Held Out is essentially the opposite of the In operation. The pixels in the FG image are multiplied against the inver-
ted alpha channel of the BG image. Accomplish exactly the same result using the In operation and a Matte Control
tool to invert the matte channel of the BG image.
x = 1-[background alpha], y = 0
ATop
ATop places the FG over the BG only where the BG has a matte.
x = [background alpha], y = 1-[foreground alpha]
XOr
XOr combines the FG with the BG wherever either the FG or the BG have a matte, but never where both have a
matte.
x = 1-[background alpha], y = 1-[foreground alpha]
Subtractive/Additive, Alpha Gain, Burn In

For details on these controls and their effect, consult the documentation for the Merge tool in the Composite Tools
chapter.
Merge Under
This merges the current image under the generated trail, rather than the usual, over top operation.
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Effect Tools
[TV] Effect Tools
TV
Description:
The TV Tool is a simple tool designed to mimic some of the typical flaws seen in analog television broadcasts and screens.
Controls
Scan Lines
This slider is used to emulate the interlaced look by dropping lines out of the image. A line is dropped by set-
ting it to black, with a transparent alpha. A value of 1 (default) will drop every second line. A value of 2 shows
one line, then drops the second and third and repeats. A value of zero turns off the effect.
Horizontal
Use this slider to apply a simple Horizontal offset to the image.
Vertical
Use this slider to apply a simple Vertical offset to the image.
Skew
This slider is used to apply a diagonal offset to the image. Positive values skew the image to the top left. Ne-
gative values skew the image to the top right. Pixels pushed off frame wrap around and reappear on the other
side of the image.
Amplitude
The Amplitude slider can be used to introduce smooth sine wave-type deformation to the edges of the image.
Higher values will increase the intensity of the deformation. Use frequency to determine how often the distor-
tion is repeated.
Frequency
The Frequency slider sets the frequency of the sine wave used to produce distortion along the edges of the
image when the amplitude control is greater than 1.
Offset
Use Offset to adjust the position of the sine wave, causing the deformation applied to the image via the amp-
litude and frequency controls to seethe across the image.
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TV Effect Tools 209
Effect Tools
[TV] Effect Tools
TV
Noise Tab
Power
Increase the value of this slider above 0 to introduce noise into the image. The higher the value, the stronger
the noise.
Size
Use this slider to scale the noise map larger.
Random
If this screw control is set to 0, the noise map will be static. Change the value over time to cause the static to
change from frame to frame.
Roll Bar Tab
Bar Strength
At the default value of 0 no bar is drawn. The higher the value, the darker the area covered by the bar will
become.
Bar Size
Increase the value of this slider to make the bar taller.
Bar Offset
Animate this control to scroll the bar across the screen.
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Film Tools
Cineon Log Film Grain Grain Light Trim Remove Noise

Film Tools
[Log] Film Tools
Cineon Log
Description:
The Cineon Log Tool is used to convert image data from logarithmic to linear. Use this tool the log-lin conversion was bypassed in a Cineon Loader to return processing to Linear.
For additional details on the Cineon Log file format, consult the chapter entitled Film In Fusion in the User Manual.
Controls
Mode
These buttons offer two options, one for converting log images to linear and one for converting linear images
to logarithmic.
Lock RGB
When selected, the settings in this tab will affect all of the color channels equally. De-select this control to
convert the Red, Green and Blue channels of the image using separate settings for each channel.
Black Level And White Level

Use this control to set the black point and white point in the log image before converting. Pixels with values in
log space below the Black Level will become out of range values below 0.0. Pixels with values above the White
Level will become out of range values above 1.0 after conversion.
When processing in floating point color space, the out of range values stored in the Cineon format are preser-
ved through the conversion. In 16 bit or 8 bit mode the out of range values are clipped.
Soft Clip (Knee)

The Soft Clip control is used to draw values that are out of range back into the image. This is done by
smoothing the conversion curve at the top and bottom of the curve, allowing more values to be represented.
Applying a soft clip of any value other than one will immediately cause the tool to process at 16 bit integer,
eliminating all out of range values that do not fit within the soft clip.
Film Stock Gamma, Conversion Gamma And Conversion Table

These controls are used to set the response curves of the logarithmic data during conversion. In addition to
the settings above, a custom ASCII file Look Up Table can be created with specific conversion values. The ASCII
LUT file can be loaded using the file folder icon button.
A description of the ASCII LUT format can be found in the Appendices of the User Manual.
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Film Tools
[Log] Film Tools
Cineon Log
Black Rolloff
Since a mathematical log() operation on a value of zero or lower will result in invalid values, Fusion will clip values
below 1e-38 (0 followed by 38 zeros) to 0 to ensure correct results. This is almost never an issue, since values that small
have no visual impact on an image. To see such tiny values you would have to add three brightness contrast tools, each
with a gain set to 1,000,000. Even then the values would hover very close to zero.
We have seen processes where instead of cropping these very small values, they are instead scaled. So values between
0.0 and 1e-16 are scaled be between 1e-18 and 1e-16. The idea is to crush the majority of the visual range in a float
image into values very near to zero, then expand them again, forcing a gentle ramp to produce a small ramp in the
extreme black values. Should you find yourself facing a color pipeline using the process, here is how you can mimic it
with the help of a custom tool.
The process involves converting the log image to linear with a very small gamma and a wider than normal black level to
white level. (e.g. conversion gamma of 0.6, black of 10, white of 1010) This will crush most of the images range into very
very small values. This is followed by a custom tool (described below), then by a linear to log conversion that reverses
the process, but uses a slightly higher black level. The difference between the black levels defines the falloff range.
Since this will lift the blacks, the image is usually then converted back to linear one more time, using more traditional
values (i.e. 95-685) to reset the black point.
The custom tool should use the following equation in the Red, Green and Blue expressions:
if (c1< 1e-16, 1e-18 + (c1/1e-16)*(1e-16 - 1e-18), c1)
Falloff Comparison
The falloff from the native Fusion process
The falloff from the ramped clipping process
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Film Tools
[FGr] Film Tools
Film Grain
Description:
The Film Grain tool in Fusion 6.1 takes a new approach to grain, which should be more closely aligned
with the grain profiles of modern film stocks. This provides the artist with more control over the final
appearance of the grain.
Note that the Film Grain tool does not replace the original Grain tool, which is still provided to allow
older compositions to load and render, but in almost every case, use of the new Film Grain tool is now
encouraged.
Controls Tab
Complexity
The complexity of the Grain indicates the number of 'layers' of grain applied to the image. With a
complexity of 1, only one grain layer is calculated and applied to the image. When complexity is set to
4, the tool calculates four separate grain layers and applies the mean combined result of each pass to
the final image. Higher complexities produce visually more complex results, without the apparent
regularity often perceivable in digitally produced grain.
Alpha Multiply
When the Alpha Multiply check-box is enabled, the Film Grain tool will multiply it's results by the
source images alpha channel. This is necessary when working with post multiplied images to ensure
that the grain does not affect areas of the image where the alpha is 0.0 (transparent).
NOTE Since it is impossible to say what the final value of semi-transparent pixels in the image are
until after they are composited with their background, you should avoid applying log-processed grain
to the elements until after they have been composited. This will ensure that the strength of the grain is
accurate.
Log Processing
When this check-box is enabled (default), the grain applied to the image will have it's intensity applied
non-linearly to match the grain profile of most film. Roughly speaking, the intensity of the grain will
increase exponentially from black to white. When this check-box is disabled the grain will be applied
uniformly, regardless of the brightness of the affected pixel.
One of the primary features of grain in film is that the appear of the grain varies radically with the
exposure, so that there appears to be very little grain present in the blacks, with the amount and
deviation of the grain increasing as the pixels exposure increases. In a film negative the darkest
portions of the developed image will appear completely opaque, and this obscures the grain. As the
negative becomes progressively clearer, more of the grain becomes evident in the result.
Chemical differences in the response to light of the red, green and blue layers of the film also cause
each color component of the film to present a different grain profile, typically with the blue channel
presenting the largest amount of grain.
The original Grain tool in Fusion provided a series of LUT curves that could help the artist come
close to matching the response curve of any film stock. However, hitting the right set of curves to
match a specific film stock turned out to be more a matter of trial and error.
In an extensive analysis of a large number of reference and production film plates, eyeon's
development team determined that the log-exposure nature of films provides the majority of the
grain strength characteristic, enough to almost overshadow any other variable which might have an
impact.
As a result, the most important control in the new Film Grain tool is the 'Log Processing' check-box,
which should be enabled when matching film, and disabled when working images which require a
more linear grain response. Having this check-box enabled will closely mimic the results of
preceding the old grain tool with a Linear->Log conversion, and following Log->Linear conversion
immediately after.
NOTE A still generalized, but somewhat more technical explanation can be found in the post titled
Grain's Anatomy, on eyeon's developers blog. http//eyeondev.blogspot.com/2010/03/grainsanatomy.
html.
Seed
The Seed slider and Randomize button are presented whenever a Fusion tool relies on a random result.
Two tools with the same seed values will produce the same random results. Click on the Randomize
button to randomly select a new seed value, or adjust the slider to manually select a new seed value.
Monochrome
When the Monochrome check-box is enabled (default) the grain will be applied to the Red, Green and
Blue color channels of the image equally. When deselected, individual control over the Size, Strength
and Roughness of the grain in each channel becomes possible.
Lock Size X/Y

Deselect the Lock Size X/Y check-box to control the size of the Grain along the X and Y axis
individually.
Size
The Grain Size is calculated relative to the size of a pixel, so that changing the resolution of the image
does not impact on the relative appearance of the grain. The default Grain Size of 1.0 will produce
grain kernels that cover roughly 2 pixels.
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Film Tools
[FGr] Film Tools
Film Grain
Strength
Grain is expressed as a variation from the original color of a pixel. So the stronger the grains strength,
the wider the possible variation from the original pixel value. For example, given a pixel with an
original value of p, and a grain tool with complexity=1 size=1; roughness=0; log processing=off; the
grain will produce an output value of p +/- strength. In other words a pixel with a value of 0.5 with a
grain strength of 0.02 could end up with a final value between 0.48 and 0.52.
Once again, that's a slight over simplification, especially when the complexity exceeds 1. Enabling the
Log Processing check-box will also cause that variation to be affected such that there will be less
variation in the blacks and more variation in the whites of the image.
NOTE When visualizing the effect of the grain on the image, the more mathematically inclined may
find it helps to picture a sine wave, where each lobe of the sine wave covers 1 pixel when the Grain
Size is 1.0. The Grain Size controls the frequency of the sine wave, while the Grain Strength controls
its amplitude. Again, this is something of an oversimplification.
Roughness
The Roughness slider applies low frequency variation to give the impression of clumping in the grain.
Try setting the Roughness to 0, and you will observe that the grain produced has a very even luminance
variation across the whole image. Increase the roughness to 1.0 and you will observe the presence of
'cellular' differences in the luminance variation.
Offset
The offset control helps to match the intensity of the grain in the deep blacks by offsetting the values
before the intensity (strength) of the grain is calculated. So an offset of 0.1 would cause a pixel with a
value of 0.1 to receive grain as if it's value was actually 0.2.
Processing Examples
Log Processing on
In the default setting the different amounts of Grain are applied to the blacks and the whites of the image.
Log Processing off
When Log processing is off, the Grain is applied evenly to the entire image as shown here.
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Film Tools
[Grn] Film Tools
Grain
Description:
The Grain tool offers comprehensive film grain emulation. This is useful for introducing simulated grain into a video or computer generated image and matching existing grain in a given
scene.
Grain Tab
Power
This slider determines the strength of the grain. A higher value increases visibility, making the grain more
prevalent.
RGB Difference
Separate Red, Green and Blue sliders are used to modify the strength of the effect on a per channel basis.
Grain Softness
This slider controls the blurriness or fuzziness of the grain. Smaller values cause the grain to be more sharp or
coarse.
Grain Size
This slider determines the size of the grain particles. Higher values increase the grain size.
Grain Spacing
This slider determines the density or amount of grain per area. Higher values cause the grain to appear more
spaced out.
Aspect Ratio
This slider adjusts the aspect of the grain so that it can be matched with anamorphic images.
Alpha-Multiply
When enabled, this checkbox will multiply the image by the alpha, clearing the black areas of any grain effect.
Spread Tab
Edit RGB Check Boxes
Separate Red, Green and Blue to enable the custom curves for each channel.More grain would appear in the
blue channel than the red, and the green channel would receive the least. This curve mimics usual film respon-
ses.Right-clicking in the spline area will display a context menu containing options related to modifying spline
curves. A complete description of the LUT editor control and its options can be found in the Tool Controls
chapter of this manual.
In And Out
This control gives direct editing of points on the curve by setting In/Out point values.
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Film Tools
[Grn] Film Tools
Grain
Spread Examples
Default Spread
In the default setting the Grain is applied evenly to the entire image as shown here.
However film often shows a different amount of grain in the blacks, mids and whites.
Bell shaped spread
Setting a bell shape like so is often a good starting point to create more realistic looking grain.
Here we have a non-uniform distribution with different amounts of grain in the red, green and blue channel as
well.
In both examples the grain's power has been over-exaggerated to show the effect a bit better.
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Film Tools
[LT] Film Tools
Light Trim
Description:
This tool emulates film scanner light trims. By design, this tool works best with logarithmic data, such as the images stored by the Cineon file system. When logarithmic data is provided, the
Light Trim tool can be used to increase or decrease the apparent exposure level of the image.
Controls
Lock RGBA
When selected, the Lock RGBA control collapses control of all image channels into one slider. This selection is
on by default. To manipulate the various color channels independently, de-select this check box.
Trim
This slider shifts the color in film, optical printing and lab printing points. 8 points equal one stop of exposure.
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Film Tools
[RN] Film Tools
Remove Noise
Description:
The Remove Noise tool provides simple noise management. The basic principle of its operation is the tool blurs the image channels, then compares the blurred image to the original to extract
the noise. A sharpness is then applied to the image except where noise was detected.
To use this tool, view the image and look at the Red channel. Then increase the Red Softness until the grain appears to be gone. Next increase the sharpness until the detail reappears, but
stop before the grain reappears. Repeat for the Green and Blue channels.
Controls / Color
Method
Use these buttons to choose whether the tool processes color using Color or Chroma methods.
This will also give you a different set of control sliders.
Lock
This checkbox will link the softness- and detail-sliders of each channel together.
Softness Red, Green And Blue

The Softness sliders determine the amount of blur applied to each channel of the image.
In Chroma mode you have sliders for the softness in the luminance and chrominance channels respectively.
Detail Red, Green And Blue

The Sharpness sliders determine how much detail is reintroduced into each channel after each channel is
softened.
In Chroma mode you have sliders for luminance and chrominance channels respectively.
Controls / Chroma
Method
The same principle applies as with the RGB Controls.
But in this case the Luminance and Chrominance channels are influenced.
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Flow Tools
Sticky Note Underlay

Flow Tools
[Nte] Flow Tools
Sticky Note
Description:
Sticky Notes are a useful way of providing notes, comments and history for a specific area of a comp. By changing their size and color, they can provide unobtrusive comments or crucial noti-
ces, as required. Sticky Notes make a good complement to the Comments Tab.
Usage
As with conventional tools, a Sticky Note can be added to a comp by selecting it from the Tools menu, in the
Flow category, or from the flow view's Add Tool context menu. The new Sticky Note will be created with its
title bar centered on the last click position.
Like Groups, Sticky Notes are created in a smaller, collapsed form. They can be expanded by double-clicking
anywhere on them, or by clicking the icon in the top right corner. Once expanded, they can be resized by
dragging on any side or corner. To collapse them again, click the icon in the top right corner once more.
Sticky Notes can be renamed, deleted, copied and pasted and have their tile color and text color changed,
using the Flow View's context menu like any other tool. It is also possible to lock them to prevent editing.
To edit the text in a Sticky Note, first expand it by double-clicking anywhere on the note, then click below its
title bar. If the note is not locked, the text will become editable.
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Flow Tools
[Und] Flow Tools
Underlay
Description:
Underlays are a convenient method of visually organising areas of a composition. As with Groups, Underlays can improve the readability of a comp by separating it into labelled functional
blocks. While Groups are designed to streamline the look of a comp by collapsing complex layers down to single tools, Underlays highlight rather than hide, and do not restrict outside con-
nections.
Usage
As with conventional tools, an Underlay can be added to a comp by selecting it from the Tools menu, in the
Flow category, or from the flow view's Add Tool context menu. The new Underlay will be created with its title
bar centered on the last click position.
Underlays can be resized by dragging on any side or corner. This will not affect any tools.
Underlays can also be used as simple selection groups. Activating an Underlay by clicking on its title will
select all the tools contained wholly within it as well, allowing the entire set to be moved, duplicated, passed-
through etc.
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FlowOrg Tools
Group Macro Pipe Router

FlowOrg Tools
[Nte] FlowOrg Tools
Groups
Description:
Groups can be used to neatly organize your comps. Especially for cleaning up by putting together multiple tools.
Usage
To group tools select them and either press ctrl-G or right click and select 'Group' from the context menu.
Pess ctrl-E to either Expand or Collapse a selected Group.
Right click and select 'Ungroup' from the context menu to ungroup all tools.
When opened Groups will hover over existing elements, allowing editing of the enclosed tools.
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FlowOrg Tools
[-/-] FlowOrg Tools
Macro
Description:
Macros can be used to combine multiple tools and exposing a user-definable set of controls.
They are meant as a fast and convenient way for building your own customized tools.
Usage
Creating a Macro
To create a Macro select the tools intended for the macro, right-click on any of them and select Macro ->
Create Macro from the context menu.
Macro Editor
The Macro Editor then allows you to specify and rename the controls that shall be exposed in the final macro.
In this example we only expose the Threshold and gain sliders of a Softglow tool which is sandwiched between to Chan-
nelBooleans.
After setting up the Macro to your liking, type in a name in the Macro Name field and select File -> Safe.
To add the Macro to your flow right-click anywhere on the flow and select Macro -> [NameOfYourMacro] from the con-
text menu.
The Final Macro
The final Macro looks and behaves just like any other tool in Fusion.
As another example you could take a single ChannelBoolean, set it to add mode,
and make it into a macro exposing no controls at all, thus creating the equivalent of a Add Node
like the one that can be found in programs like Shake.
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FlowOrg Tools
[-/-] Flow Org Tools
Pipe Router
Description:
Pipe Routers can be used to neatly organize your comps. Especially for creating diversions in your pipes,
to make them better visible and help to understand the flow more easily. Pipe Routers do not have any influence on render times.
Usage
Pipe Router
To insert a router in your pipe, Alt left-click on the pipe and place the router anywhere on the flow.
Though Routers have no actual controls, they still can be used to add comments to your comp.
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Fuses
Generic Fuse

Fuses
[Fus] Fuses
Fuses
Description:
Fuses are scriptable plugins. They can be edited within Fusion by pressing the edit button, and will compile on the fly when clicking on reload.
Fuses are a great way to prototype plugins or to deal with experimental code.
Apart from those already installed with Fusion, you can find a plethora of community-created Fuses here.
Please refer to the SDK for further information.
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I/O Tools
Loader Saver

I/O Tools
[LD] InputOutput Tools
Loader
Description:
The Loader tool is used to select and load footage from the hard drive or network storage. The Loader is responsible for trimming, looping, and extending the footage, as well as setting the
field order, pixel aspect and color depth. Loader is arguably the most important tool in Fusion.
File Tab
Filename
Clicking on the yellow Folder button will display a standard Fusion file browser. The path to the footage can
also be typed directly using the text box provided.
The text box supports filename completion. As the name of a directory or file is typed in the text box, Fusion
will display a popup that lists possible matches. Use the arrow keys to select the correct match and complete
the path.
When a loader is added to the flow, a file dialog will appear automatically to allow selection of a clip from the
hard drives. To select footage later, select Cancel. The loader will still be added to the flow. Disable the auto-
matic display of the file browser by disabling Auto Clip Browse in the Global>General Preferences.
File Sequences
It is common practice to use file sequences to identify an image that is part of a series. If the last part of a file's
name is a number (not counting file extension), Fusion will automatically scan the directory looking for files
that match the sequence.
For example, the following filenames would be valid sequences.

image.0001.tga
image.0002.tga
image.0003.tga
image151.exr
image152.exr
image153.exr
image1.tif
image2.tif
image3.tif
The following would not be considered a sequence, since the last characters are not numeric.
shot.1.fg.tga
shot.2.fg.tga
shot.3.fg.tga
It is not necessary to select the first file in the sequence, Fusion will search the entire folder for files matching
the sequence in the selected filename. Also, Fusion will determine the length of the sequence based on the
first and last numeric value in the filenames. Missing frames are ignored.
For example, if the folder contains two files with the following names
image.0001.tga
image.0100.tga
Fusion will see this as a file sequence with 100 frames, not a file sequence containing two frames. The Missing
Frames drop-down menuis used to choose how Fusion handles missing frames. The Trim In/Trim Out control's
context menu can also be used to force a specific cliplength, or to rescan the folder. Both controls are descri-
bed in greater detail below.
Occasionally you only want to load a single frame out of a sequence, like e.g. a photograph out of folder
containing many other files as well. By default Fusion will detect those as a sequence, but if you hold Shift
while dragging the file from explorer to the flow area, Fusion will only take that specific file and disregard any
sequencing.
Also, if you use the preview-controls on the bottom right of the screen, you can Ctrl-Click on the slider once
you reached the frame you want to use as a still, and Fusion will set up the loader accordingly.
Proxy Filename
The Proxy Filename control only appears once the filename control points to a valid clip. This can specify a clip
that will be loaded when the Proxy mode is enabled. This allows smaller versions of the image to be loaded to
speed up file I/O from disk and processing.
For example, create a 1/4 scale version of a Cineon film sequence to use as a file proxy. Whenever the proxy
mode of the flow is enabled, the smaller resolution proxy clip will be loaded from disk and all processing will
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I/O Tools
Loader
File Tab (continued)

be performed at the lower resolution, significantly improving render times.
This is particularly useful when working with large film plates stored on a remote fileserver. Lower resolution
versions of the plates can be stored locally, reducing network bandwidth, interactive render times and memo-
ry usage.
The proxy clip must have the same number of frames as the source clip, and the sequence numbers for the
clip must start and end on the same frame numbers.
It is strongly suggested that the proxies are exactly the same format as the main files. In the case of formats
with options, such as Cineon, DPX and OpenEXR, the proxies will use the same format options as the primary.
Trim In And Out

The Trim range control is used to trim frames from the start or end of a clip. Adjust the Trim In to remove
frames from the start and Trim Out to specify the last frame of the clip. The values used here are offsets. A va-
lue of 5 in Trim In would use the 5th frame in the sequence as the start, ignoring the first four frames. A value
of 95 would stop loading frames after the 95th.
Right-click on the range control to see three options appear in a submenu
Autodetect Clip Length

This rescans the clip to see if frames have been added or removed since the last time the clip was scanned
(when it was loaded).
Set Clip Start Frame

Selecting this will display a dialog box to set the number of the actual start frame of the clip on disk. Use this
when the first frames of the file sequence are not yet available to set the clip's properties manually.
Set Clip Length

This sets the actual clip length, overriding the scanned length. This is useful if the entire clip has not yet been
rendered or captured. Used in combination with Set Clip Start Frame it can be used to define a clip before the
clip is available.
For example, imagine there is only a single animatic frame available for a scene that is being precomped. The
animation department has yet to render the entire layer. Use the Set Clip Start and Set Clip Length to define
the clip anyway, and the composition will load the correct frames when they become available. If the Missing
Frames control is set to Wait, then rendering will pause until the frame is available, instead of failing.
Hold First And Last Frame

The Hold First Frame and Hold Last Frame controls will hold the first or last frame of the clip for the specified
amount of frames. Held frames are included in a loop if the footage is looped.
Reverse
Select this checkbox to reverse the footage so that the last frame is played first and the first frame played last.
Loop
Select this checkbox to loop the footage until the end of the project. Any lengthening of the clip using Hold
First/Last Frame or shortening using Trim In/Out is included in the looped clip.
Missing Frames
The Missing Frames drop-down menu provides options for selecting how the loader will behave when an
expected frame is missing from the footage, or is unable to load for any reason.
Fail
The loader will not output any image unless a frame becomes available. Rendering will abort.
Hold Previous
Output the last valid frame until a frame becomes available again. This fails if no valid frame has been seen,
for example if the first frame is missing.
Output Black
Output a black frame until a valid frame becomes available again.
Wait
Fusion will wait for the frame to become available, checking every few seconds. Useful for rendering a flow
simultaneously with a 3D render. All rendering will cease until the frame appears.
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I/O Tools
Loader
Import Tab
Depth
The buttons in this array are used to select the color Depth used by Fusion to process footage from this loader. The
default option is Format.
Format
The color depth is determined by the color depth supported in the file format loaded. For example, TGA files will
automatically process at 8 bit because the TGA file format does not store color depths greater than 8. Cineon files will
load at Float, etc. If the color depth of the format is undetermined, the default depth defined in the flow's frame format
preferences is used.
Formats that support multiple color depths will be set to the appropriate color depth automatically.
Default
The color depth is determined by the settings in the composition's Frame Format Preferences panel.
Int 8 Bit/Int 16 Bit/Float 16/Float 32

These options set the color depth the image will be processed in.
For a more complete discussion of color depth and how it affects composites, consult the Frame Formats chapter of
this manual.
Pixel Aspect
This button array is used to determine the image's pixel aspect ratio.
From File
The loader will conform to the image aspect detected in the saved file. There are a few formats that can store aspect
information. TIFF, JPEG and OpenEXR are examples of image formats that may have the pixel aspect embedded in the
file's header. When no aspect ratio information is stored in the file, the default frame format method is used.
Default
Any pixel aspect ratio information stored in the header of the image file will be ignored. The pixel aspect set in the
composition's frame format preferences will be used instead.
Custom
Select this option to override the preferences and set a pixel aspect for the clip manually. Selecting this button will
cause the X/Y Pixel Aspect control to appear. For a more complete discussion of pixel aspect and how it affects compo-
sites, consult the Frame Formats chapter of this manual.
Custom Pixel Aspect

This control is only visible when the Custom Pixel aspect Method is used. Enter the desired aspect, or right-click on the
control to display a menu of common frame formats and their aspects.
Import Mode
This menu provides options for removing pull-up from an image sequence. Pull-up is a reversable method of com-
bining frames used to convert 24fps footage into 30fps. It is commonly used to broadcast NTSC versions of films.
Normal - This passes the image without applying pull-up or pull-down.
2:3 Pull Up - This will remove existing 32 pull-down applied to the image sequence, converting from 30fps to 24fps.
2:3 Pull Down - The footage will have pull-down applied, converting 24fps footage to 30fps by creating 5 frames out of
every four. The process mode of a loader set to Pull Down should always be Full Frames.
First Frame
This control is used to determine which frame of the 32 sequence is used as the first frame of the loaded clip. It only
appears if the pull-up or pull-down options are selected from the Import Mode menu.
Detect Pulldown Sequence

Pressing this button will cause Fusion to attempt to automatically detect and set the Pull-up sequence of the footage.
It only appears if pull-up or pull-down are selected from the Import Mode menu. If it succeeds in detecting the order,
the First Frame control will automatically be set to the correct value.
Make Alpha Solid

When checked, the original alpha channel of the clip will be cleared and set to solid white (completely opaque).
Invert Alpha
When checked, the original alpha channel of the clip will be inverted. This may also be used in conjunction with Make
Alpha Solid to set the alpha to pure black (completely transparent).
Post-Multiply By Alpha
Selecting this option will cause the color value of each pixel to be multiplied by the alpha channel for that pixel. This
option can be used to convert subtractive (non-premultiplied) images to additive (premultiplied) images.
Swap Field Dominance

When this control is selected, the field order (dominance) of the image will be swapped, so that the order in time that
the fields appear in is reversed. Unlike the Process Mode control, this is done without spatially swapping the scanlines
in the image.
I/O Tools
Loader
Import Tab (continued)
Source Color Space

Sets the Color Space of the footage to help achieving a linear workflow.
Unlike the Gamut Tool, this doesn't perform any actual colour space conversion,
but rather adds the source space data into the metadata, if that metadata doesnt already exist.
The metadata can then be used downstream by a Gamut Tool with the "From Image" option,
or in a Saver, if explicit output spaces are defined there.
Auto
Passes along any metadata that might be in the incoming image.
Space
Allows to set the Color Space from a variety of options.
Source Gamma Space

Allows to determine the Gamma Space of the footage as well as removing that Gamma Curve,
to help achieving a linear workflow.
Auto
Passes along any metadata that might be in the incoming image.
Space
Allows to set the Gamma Space from a variety of options.
Log
Brings up the Log/Lin settings, similar to the Cineon Tool.
Remove Curve
Depending on the selected Gamma Space, or on the Gamma Space found in Auto-Mode,
the associated Gamma-Curve is removed from, or a log-lin conversion is performed on the material,
effectively converting it to a linear output space.

I/O Tools
Loader
Clip List Tab

A single loader can contain multiple files of any format. You can view, select and delete clips within the Clip List tab.
New clips will be inserted in the first frame adjacent to the clip closest to the current frame number. To replace, change
the current time to a frame of the outgoing clip and select the desired new clip. This clip list allows you to do simple
cut and trim edits, and to preview clips together in sequence.
By default the Clip List option is disabled.
Load
Load adds a new clip to the clip list. If a valid clip is present at the current time, that clip will be replaced.
Replace
This replaces the currently selected clip in the clip list.
Insert
Insert adds the incoming clip after the selected clip. If no clip is selected, it adds the new clip to the clip list at the cur-
rent time. Clips will ripple to the right.
Import
Import adds the incoming clip at the time specified by the selected filename (for example, image.0005.tga would be
inserted at frame 5). Import is not dependent on current time or selected clip. It simply places the incoming clip at its
specified time. Non-linear editors will recognize this as a 3-point replace.
Clip List Usage Tips
* When more than one clip is present in the list, the controls title bar changes to Multiple Clips.
* Double-click a clip in the list to change the current time to the start of that clip.
* With a clip selected in the list, press the Del key to remove the clip.
* Drag and drop a file or directory from an Explorer window to replace the list with the new clip.
Clip Lists in the Timeline view
The easiest way to manage a list of clips is to use the Timeline view. The Loader's bar in the Timeline view shows all
clips in the list with their relative positions and lengths represented graphically. It also offers many useful editing capa-
bilities
* Individual clips may be trimmed by dragging the end points of their bar.
* Clips can have their start and end frames extended by Ctrl+dragging the end points.
* Clips may be repositioned on the timeline by dragging elsewhere on their bar.
* Clips can also be re-ordered in the list by dragging them before or after other clips.
* Drop one or more files or directories from Explorer to the right of the bars to append new clips to the list.
* Drop one or more files or directories from Explorer into a gap to insert the clips into the list, without affecting the
timing of later clips.

I/O Tools
Loader
Format Tab
The Format Tab contains information, options and settings relative to loading the image format. Not all file formats
have options, notably the Cineon, DPX, PSD, OMF, OpenEXR and QuickTime formats all provide additional options
when loaded. See Appendix A File Formats for a description of all supported formats.
Options for JPG and DPX are shown for reference on the right.
OMF Format
An OMF file is not just a media format, it can contain information about edits, multiple sequences, and even multiple
versions of the same shot. If multiple clips exist within the OMF file, the format options may be used to select the desi-
red clip. To import all clips from an OMF file, complete with edit and combine information, use the Import OMF option
from Fusion's File menu to create a entire composition from the contents of the OMF.
Photoshop PSD Format

Fusion can load any one of the individual layers stored in the PSD file, or the completed image with all layers. Transfor-
mation and adjustment layers are not supported. To load all layers individually from a PSD file, with appropriate blend
modes to combine them, use the Import PSD option from Fusion's File menu to create a entire composition from the
contents of the PSD file.
Cineon And DPX Format

See the chapter Film In Fusion and the chapter for the Cineon Log tool for a detailed discussion of the options found
in the Cineon and DPX file formats.
OpenEXR Format
The [http//www.openexr.com/ OpenEXR] format was developed by Industrial Light and Magic. Its initial design was to
provide a compact and flexible format to support storage of high dynamic range images (float). The format has been
expanded to support a variety of extra channels and metadata.
The format options for OpenEXR files provide a mechanism for mapping any non-RGBA channels to the channels sup-
ported natively in Fusion. Enter the name of a channel in the OpenEXR file into any of the edit boxes next to the Fusion
channel name. A command line utility for dumping the names of the channels can be found at http//www.openexr.
com/
QuickTime
QuickTime files can potentially contain multiple tracks. Use the format options to select one of the tracks.
Image File Lists

One of the more interesting formats supported by Fusion is the Image File List format. An IFL is actually a text file con-
taining a list of files that should be loaded. Use IFL files to specify a sequence of arbitrarily-named files, or files from
different directories.

I/O Tools
Loader
Common Controls
Process Mode
Use this menu to select the fields processing mode used by Fusion when loading the image. The default option is de-
termined by the Has Fields check box control in the Frame Format Preferences, and the default height as well. Available
options are Full frames, NTSC fields, PAL/HD fields, PAL/HD fields (reversed) and NTSC fields (reversed). The two Rever-
sed options load fields in the opposite order, and will thus result in the fields being swapped both in time order and in
vertical order as well. Use the Reverse Dominance checkbox (described in the Import Tab below) to swap fields in time
only.
For more information on fields processing consult the Frame Formats chapter.
Global In And Out

Use this control to specify the position of this tool within the project. Use Global In to specify the frame on which that
the clip starts and Global Out to specify the frame on which this clip ends within the project's Global Range.
If the Global In And Out values are decreased to the point where the range between the In and Out values is smaller
than the amount of available frames in the clip, Fusion will automatically trim the clip by adjusting the Clip Time range
control.
If the global in/out values are increased to the point where the range between the in and out values is larger than the
amount of available frames in the clip, Fusion will automatically lengthen the clip by adjusting the Hold First/Last Frame
controls.
Extended frames are visually represented in the range control by changing the color of the held frames to purple in the
control.
To slip the clip in time or move it through the project without changing its length, place the mouse pointer in the midd-
le of the range control and drag it to the new location, or enter the value manually in the Global In value control.
The magic Comp variable

As you can see in the screenshots the pathnames in this examples start with Comp:\.
The Comp-variable in Fusion works for Loaders and Savers and helps you to keep your work organized.
Comp:\ stands for the folder your actual composition is stored in.
So as long as all your source footage is stored in subfolders of your comp-folder Fusion will find that footage regard-
less of the actual hard-drive or network share name.
You could e.g. copy an entire shot from the network to your local drive,
set up your loaders and savers to use the Comp:-variable,
work all your magic locally (i.e. set up your composition)
and then copy just the composition back to the server and issue a net-render.
All render slaves will automatically find the source-footage.
Some examples:
Your Composition is stored in X:\Project\Shot0815\Fusion\Shot0815.comp
Your source footage sits in X:\Project\Shot0815\Fusion\Greenscreen\0815Green_0000.dpx
The relative path in the loader would then be: Comp:\Greenscreen\0815Green_0000.dpx
If your source footage is stored in X:\Project\Shot0815\Footage\Greenscreen\0815Green_0000.dpx

The relative path in the loader would then be: Comp:\..\Footage\Greenscreen\0815Green_0000.dpx
Observe how the two dots .. set the directory to go up one folder.
Pretty much the same like CD .. in a command shell window.

I/O Tools
[Sv] InputOutput Tools
Saver
Description:
The Saver is responsible for writing the results of a composition to disk. It can be inserted into a composition at any point. The Saver tool can also used to add scratch track audio to your flow,
which can be heard during interactive playback.
A composition can contain any number of saver tools, and savers can be placed at any point in the flow.
File Tab
Filename
Use the Filename dialog to select the name and path of the rendered image output. Click on the yellow folder icon to
display a file browser to select a folder and filename to be used for output.
Sequence numbering is automatically added to the filename when rendered. For example, if c\renders\image.tga is
entered as the filename and 30 frames of output is rendered, the files will automatically be numbered as image0000.tga,
image0001.tga, image0003.tga...and so on. Four digit padding is automatically used for numbers lower than 10000.
Specify the number of digits to use padding the sequence number by explicitly entering the digits into the filename.
For example, image000000.tga would apply 6 digit padding to the numeric sequence,
image.001.tga would use 3 digit padding and
image1.tga would use none.
Saving To An Image File List

It is possible to save to an IFL file if more control is required over the filenames written to disk than specified here. To
create an IFL, create a text file with the extension .ifl. Each line of the text file specifies the name for one frame of the
output. For example, to render using roman numerals instead of decimals for the file sequence numbering would create
the following file.
image.i.tga
image.ii.tga
image.iii.tga
image.iv.tga
image.v.tga
The render will fail if there are not enough lines to match the number of frames rendered. In the above example, the
render would fail after the fifth frame.
Format options cannot be specified when using image file lists to save to disk. The defaults will be used instead.
Output Format
Use this control to select the image format to be saved. Selecting a new format from this menu does not change the
extension used in the filename to match. Modify the filename manually to match the expected extension for that format
to avoid a mismatch between name and image format.
For a list of file formats supported for saving by Fusion, see Appendix A.
Process Mode
The Process Mode menu is used to set the method of field processing used by Fusion when the flow is rendered.
The default option is Auto. This will render the flow using the field ordering set in the process mode of the most back-
ground Loader or Creator tool in the flow.
To force a flow to render individual fields or full frames regardless of the settings of other tools in the flow, change this
menu's setting to one of the other listed options.
For example, if the saver's process mode is set to NTSC fields, a loader set to process full frames will still load a full
frame from disk, but animation applied to that layer will be applied with field level accuracy. In all cases, footage will be
reinterlaced if necessary and saved as frames on disk.
See the Frame Formats chapter for additional details on frame and fields processing in Fusion.
Save Frames
This control selects between two modes
Full Renders Only

Images are only saved to disk when a final render is started using the Start Render button in the Time Ruler.
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I/O Tools
Saver
File Tab (continued)

High Quality Interactive
This render mode is designed for real-time rendering when painting and rotoscoping. Fusion will save each frame to
disk as it is processed interactively.
When used correctly, this feature can completely eliminate the need to perform a final render after rotoscoping. It can
cause tremendous confusion when used in conjunction with a flow that contains spline animated parameters.
If these splines are modified in such a way that frames already saved interactively are changed, the frames already on
the disk will not automatically be re-rendered. Either step through each frame again or perform a final render to make
certain that the result is correct.
Set Sequence Start

Normally, Fusion will use the render range of a composition to determine the numeric sequence used when rendering a
file sequence to disk. Enable this checkbox to reveal the Sequence Start Frame control to adjust the starting number in
the sequence to a custom value.
Sequence Start Frame

This thumbwheel control can be used to set an explicit start frame for the number sequence applied to the rendered
filenames. For example, if Global Start is set to 1 and frames 1 - 30 are rendered, files will normally be numbered 0001 -
0030. If the Sequence Start Frame is set to 100, the rendered output would be numbered from 100-131.
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I/O Tools
Saver
Audio Tab
The audio functionality is included in Fusion for scratch track (aligning effects to audio and clip timing) purposes only.
Final renders should almost always be performed without audio. The smallest possible audio files should be used, as
Fusion will load the entire audio file into memory for efficient display of the waveform in the timeline.
The audio track will be included in the saved image if an AVI file format is selected. Fusion currently supports playback
of WAV audio, and dpsReality DVA files.
Audio Browse
Select the optional audio scratch track to be used. Select the*.WAV file of choice, then expand the Saver bar in the time-
line layout to view the audio waveform. Drag the pointer over the audio wave in the timeline layout to hear the track.
Sound Offset
Drag the control left or right to create an offset in time between the audio and images of the flow.
Export Tab
Export Mode
This menu is used to apply a SMPTE standard 32 pulldown to the footage as it is saved to disk, converting the footage
from 24fps to 30 fps.
First Frame
First Frame determines the cadence of the 32 pulldown by choosing what frames are combined from the 24fps source
to create the first frame in the 30fps pulldown result. Normally, this should be left to AA. When saving a clip that origi-
nally had pulldown that was removed to apply effects and it needs to be reinserted into an existing edit, the cadence of
the original clip may need to be matched.
Clipping Mode
These radiobuttons define how the edges of image should be treated. This can also be called source image clipping.
They default to Frame, which will provide the same behaviour as previous versions of Fusion.
Since this option will clip to the parts of the image visible within its visible dimensions, it will break any infinite-work-
space behaviour.
If the upstream DOD is smaller than the frame, the remaining area in the frame will be treated as black/transparent.
None does not perform any source image clipping at all.

This means that any data that would normally be needed outside the upstream DOD will be treated as black/transpa-
rent.
Be aware that this might create humongous images which can consume a huge amount of diskspace.
So you should use this option only if really needed.
For more information about ROI, DOD and Infinite Workspace please see the dedicated chapter.
Save Alpha To Color

When selected, this control will cause the alpha channel to be saved into the color channels as a grayscale image. This
will completely overwrite any existing color information.

I/O Tools
Saver
Legal Tab
Video Type
Select the standard to be used for broadcast legal color correction. NTSC, NHK or PAL/SECAM can be chosen.
Action
Use this menu to choose how Fusion will treat illegal colors in the image.
Adjust To Legal
This will cause the images to be saved with legal colors relevant to the Video Type selected.
Indicate As Black
This causes the illegal colors to be displayed as black in the views.
Indicate As White
This causes the illegal colors to be displayed as white in the views.
No Changes
This causes the images to be saved unaffected.
Adjust Based On
This menu is used to choose whether Fusion will legalize the image to 75% or 100% amplitude. Very few broadcast
markets permit 100% amplitude, but for the most part this should be left to 75%.
Format Tab
The Format Tab contains information, options and settings specific to the image format being saved. The controls for a
TGA sequence will be entirely different from the ones displayed when a DPX file is saved.
TGA and DPX are displayed on the right for reference.
There are a tremendous amount of options available for each of the different file formats and it is beyond the scope of
this manual to describe them all. Please contact eyeon Software's technical support if you have questions about any of
the format options and we will be pleased to assist you.
When the saver is set to DPX, it's important to understand what the "Data Is Linear" option is there for.
When saving log data into a DPX, and not using the Saver's own lin-log conversion,
- that is, Bypass Conversion is checked- the "Data Is Linear" option should be off.
This indicates whether the reason for checking Bypass Conversion is because the data is linear,
or whether it's already log.
If "Data Is Linear" is enabled, then the DPX is marked in it's Header as containing linear data.
In turn that means that when the DPX is loaded back into Fusion, or into other apps that evaluate the Header,
those apps will think the data is linear, and will not perform any log-lin conversion.
In our example this is obviously wrong since the data is actually log and hence would require a proper conversion.
The magic Comp variable

As you can see in the screenshots the pathnames in this examples start with Comp:\.
The Comp-variable in Fusion works for Loaders and Savers and helps you to keep your work organized.
Comp:\ stands for the folder your actual composition is stored in.
So as long as all your source footage is stored in subfolders of your comp-folder Fusion will find that footage regard-
less of the actual hard-drive or network share name.
You could e.g. copy an entire shot from the network to your local drive,
set up your loaders and savers to use the Comp:-variable,
work all your magic locally (i.e. set up your composition)
and then copy just the composition back to the server and issue a net-render.
All render slaves will automatically find the source-footage.
Some examples:
Your Composition is stored in X:\Project\Shot0815\Fusion\Shot0815.comp
Your source footage sits in X:\Project\Shot0815\Fusion\Greenscreen\0815Green_0000.dpx
The relative path in the loader would then be: Comp:\Greenscreen\0815Green_0000.dpx
If your source footage is stored in X:\Project\Shot0815\Footage\Greenscreen\0815Green_0000.dpx

The relative path in the loader would then be: Comp:\..\Footage\Greenscreen\0815Green_0000.dpx
Observe how the two dots .. set the directory to go up one folder.
Pretty much the same like CD .. in a command shell window.

LUT Tools
LUT Cube Analyzer LUT Cube Apply LUT Cube Creator File LUT

LUT Tools
[FLU] LUT Tools
File LUT
Description:
The File LUT tool applies a look up table (LUT) to the image, either a simple 1D LUT or (as of Fusion 5.2) a supported 3D LUT. Unlike the Color Curves tool it does not use a spline-based LUT.
Instead it loads the LUT from a file stored on the system or network.
This approach has two advantages. The first is that the only part of the LUT stored in the composition is the path to the file. Since LUT files can be very large, this can dramatically reduce the
file size of a composition when several LUTs are present. The second advantage is that it becomes possible to adjust all File LUT tools using the same file at the same time, simply by changing
the contents of the LUT. This can be useful when the same LUT-based color correction is applied in many different compositions.
Controls
LUT File
Use this control to select the path to the file describing the LUT. Currently this tool supports LUTs exported
from Fusion in .LUT and .ALUT formats, and (as of Fusion 5.2) Shake's LUT format and a number of 3D LUT for-
mats as well. The tool will fail with an error message on the Console if it is unable to find or load the specified
file.
Color Space
Use this control to change the color space the LUT is applied in. The default is to apply the curves described in
the LUT to the RGB color space, but options for YUV, HLS, HSV and others are also available.
Selecting the Pre-Divide/Post-Multiply checkbox will cause the image pixel values to be divided by the alpha
values prior to applying the LUT, and then re-multiplied by the alpha value after the correction.
This helps to prevent the creation of illegally additive images, particularly around the edges of a blue/green
key or when working with 3D rendered objects.
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LUT Tools
[LCA] LUT Tools
LUT Cube Analyzer
Description:
The LUT Cube Analyzer takes an image created by the LUT Cube Creator as an input and allows to create a 3D LUT file in ALUT3, ITX or 3DL format.
Feeding the original image into the tool would result in an unaltered or 1:1 LUT file.
You can however modify, grade and color-correct the original cube image with as many tools as you like
and feed the result into the LUT Cube Analyzer.
This will create a LUT that exactly resembles your color pipeline.
Usage
Connect the output of any tool modifying an image that was created with the LUT Cube Creator
to the input of the Analyzer, view the analyzer, select the desired output format, specify a filename
and press Write File to create the 3D LUT.
Controls
Type
Select the desired output format of the 3D LUT.
Filename
Specify a path and name the LUT file is written to.
Write File
Press this button to generate the 3D LUT file based on the settings above.
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LUT Tools
[LCP] LUT Tools
LUT Cube Apply
Description:
The LUT Cube Apply takes an image created by the LUT Cube Creator as the foreground input applies that LUT to the image connected to the Background input.
Feeding the original image into the tool would result in an unaltered or 1:1 output.
You can however modify, grade and color-correct the original cube image with as many tools as you like
and feed the result into the LUT Cube Apply.
Or take a LUT image that has been graded beforehand to apply the LUT without having to write an actual 3D LUT using the LUT Cube Analyzer
Usage
Connect any image that is meant to be modified accordin to the LUT to the Background input of the tool.
Connect a LUT Cube image to the Foreground input of the tool.
Use OpenCL
If your graphics card supports OpenCL, enabling this option will tremendeously speed up the processing on
this tool.
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LUT Tools
[LCC] LUT Tools
LUT Cube Creator
Description:
The LUT Cube Creator creates an image for further use with the LUT Cube Analyzer or LUT Cube Apply.
The output can be graded, color-corrected or modified with any tool inside and outside of Fusion.
If working outside Fusion make sure to keep the image in 32bit floating point to preserve color accuracy.
Controls
Type
Horizontal
Creates a long, horizontal strip representing a color cube.
Vertical
Creates a long, vertical strip representing a color cube.
Rect
Creates a rectangular image as depicted below representing a color cube.
Size
Determines the resolution of the color cube.

Keep in mind that higher reolutions yield more accurate results but are also more memory- and computatio-
nal extensive.
Common values for color cubes are 17x17x17 or 33x33x33, or in a mathematical fassion n^2+1.
Use OpenCL
If your graphics card supports OpenCL, enabling this option will tremendeously speed up the processing on
this tool.
A Cube Image created with the Rect type The resulting Color Cube
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Top
Mask Tools
Bitmap Mask B-Spline Mask Ellipse Mask Mask Paint Polygon Mask
Ranges Mask Rectangle Mask Triangle Mask Wand Mask Common Mask
Controls

Mask Tools
[cmc] Mask Tools
Common Mask
Controls
Description:
Common Controls can be found in every Mask tool. This chapter is therefore valid for all Mask tools.
Common Mask Controls
Although each mask has its own set of controls unique to that mask type, several of the controls shown are
common for all types of masks. The controls listed here are generally found on all masks.
Show View Controls
Use the Show View Controls checkbox to disable the display of the mask controls in the display view. Polylines,
centers, angles and other controls will not be displayed, even when the tool is selected.
Level
The Level control designates the transparency level of the pixels in the mask channel. When the value is 1.0,
the effect mask is completely opaque (unless it has a soft edge). Lower values will cause the mask to be parti-
ally transparent. The result is identical to lowering the blend control of an effect.
==Note==
Lowering the level of a mask will lower the values of all pixels covered by the mask in the mask channel. For
example, if a circle mask is placed over a rectangle mask, lowering the level of the circle mask will lower the
values of all of the pixels in the mask channel, regardless of the fact that the rectangle mask beneath it is still
opaque.
Filter
This control selects the filtering algorithm to be used when applying Soft Edge to the mask.
Box
This is the fastest method, but at reduced quality. This is best suited for very small amounts of blur.
Bartlett
Otherwise known as a pyramid filter, Bartlett makes a good compromise between speed and quality.
Multi-box
When selecting this filter, the Num Passes slider appears, to let you control the quality. At 1 and 2 passes,
results are identical to Box and Bartlett, respectively. At 4 and above, results are usually as good as Gaussian,
in less time and with no edge 'ringing'.
Gaussian
The default filter, this uses a true Gaussian approximation and gives excellent results, but is a little slower than
the other filters. In some cases it can produce extremely slight edge 'ringing' on floating point pixels.
Soft Edge
Use the Soft Edge slider to blur (feather) the edges of the mask, using the selected Filter. Higher values will
cause the edge to fade off well beyond the boundaries of the mask. A value of 0.0 will create a crisp, well-
defined edge.
Border Width
The Border Width control adjusts the thickness of the mask's edge. When the solid checkbox is toggled on,
the border thickens or narrows the mask. When the mask is not solid, an outline of the mask shape is drawn
and the thickness of the outline is handled with this control.
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Mask Tools
[cmc] Mask Tools
Common Mask
Controls
Paint Mode
Although each mask has its own set of controls unique to that mask type, several of the controls shown are
common for all types of masks. The controls listed here are generally found on all masks.
Merge
Merge is the default for all masks. The new mask is merged together with the input mask.
Add
The mask's values are added to the input mask's values.
Subtract
In the intersecting areas, the new mask values are subtracted from the input mask's values.
Minimum
The input mask's values are compared to the new mask, and the lowest (minimum) value is taken.
Maximum
The input mask's values are compared to the new mask, and the highest (maximum) value is taken.
Average
This calculates the average (half the sum) of the new mask and the input mask.
Multiply
This multiplies the values of the input mask by the new mask's values.
Replace
The new mask completely replaces the input mask wherever they intersect. Areas that are zero (completely
black) in the new mask do not affect the input mask.
Invert
Areas of the input mask that are covered by the new mask are inverted - white becomes black, and vice versa.
Grey areas in the new mask are partially inverted.
Copy
This mode completely discards the input mask, and uses the new mask for all values.
Ignore
This mode completely discards the new mask, and uses the input mask for all values.
Invert
Selecting this checkbox inverts the entire mask. This differs from the Invert Paint Mode in that it affects all
pixels, regardless of whether they are covered by the new mask or not.
Solid
When the Solid checkbox is enabled, all areas completely enclosed by the mask will be filled solid white. Tur-
ning off the checkbox will treat the mask as an outline, with the width of the outline determined by the Border
Width control. This checkbox is enabled by default.
Center
All masks have a center, with the exception of the Common controls found on Creator tools, such as Back-
ground and Fast Noise.
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Mask Tools
[cmc] Mask Tools
Common Mask
Controls
Process Mode
Use this menu control to select the fields processing mode used by Fusion to render changes to the mask. The
default option is determined by the Has Fields checkbox control in the Frame Format Preferences. For more
information on fields processing, consult the Frame Formats chapter.

When this checkbox is selected, the width, height and pixel aspect of the mask created will be locked to values
defined in the composition's Frame Format preferences. If the Frame Format preferences change, the resoluti-
on of the mask produced will change to match. Disabling this option can be useful to build a composition at a
different resolution than the eventual target resolution for the final render.
Width
Height
This pair of controls is used to set the Width and Height dimensions of the mask to be created.
Pixel Aspect
This controls is used to specify the Pixel Aspect ratio of the created mask. An aspect ratio of 11 would genera-
te a square pixel with the same dimensions on either side (like a computer display monitor) and an aspect of
0.91 would create a slightly rectangular pixel (like an NTSC monitor).
Depth
The Depth button array is used to set the pixel color depth of the image created by the mask. 32bit pixels
require 4 times the memory of 8bit pixels, but have far greater accuracy. Float pixels allow high dynamic range
values outside the normal 0..1 range, for representing colours that are brighter than white or darker than
black. See the Frame Format chapter for more details.
Note
Right-click on the Width,Height or Pixel Aspect controls to display a menu listing the file formats defined in the
preferences Frame Format tab. Selecting any of the listed options will set the width, height and pixel aspect to the
values for that format.
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Mask Tools
[Bmp] Mask Tools
Bitmap Mask
Description:
The Bitmap Mask allows images from the flow to act as masks for tools and effects. Bitmap masks can be based on values from any of the color, alpha, hue, saturation, luminance and auxiliary
coverage channels of the image. Tools can also be masked based on the object or material ID of a 3D rendered image (provided those channels were included when the file was rendered).
The output of any tool can be connected directly to another tool's Effect Mask input. The bitmap mask tool is not required for many common tasks. If the output is connected directly, the
common controls tab for the masked tool will display a control to select which channel of the mask image is used to create the mask.
However, bitmap mask tools may still be required to connect to other mask inputs on some tools, such as Garbage Mattes and Pre-Masks. Also, using a bitmap mask tool between the mask
source and the target tool provides additional options that would not be available when connecting directly, such as combining masks, blurring the mask or clipping its threshold.
Many of the controls found in this mask tool are common to all mask tools. These controls are documented at Common Mask Controls.
Controls Tab
Level, Filter, Soft Edge and Border Width

Please refer to the Common Mask Controls.
Fit Input
This control defines how the image source is treated if it does not fit the dimensions of the generated Mask.
Imagine a 720*576 image source being used to generate a 1920x1080 mask.
In the following section we refer to image source as being the 720x576 image (yellow) and Mask as being the
mask that is actually generated (gray).
Crop
If the image source is smaller than the generated Mask it will be placed according to the X/Y controls, mas-
king off only a portion of the Mask.
If the image source is bigger than the generated Mask it will be placed according to the X/Y controls, and
cropped off at the borders of the Mask.
Stretch
The image source will be stretched in X and Y to accomodate the full dimensions of the generated Mask.
This might lead to visible distortions of the image source.
Inside
The image source will be scaled uniformly until one of it's dimensions (X or Y) fits the inside dimensions of the
Mask.
Depending on the relative dimensions of image source and Mask Background either the image source's width
or height may be cropped to fit the respective dimension of the Mask.
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Mask Tools
[Bmp] Mask Tools
Bitmap Mask
Width
The image source will be scaled uniformly until it's width (X) fits the width of the Mask.
Depending on the relative dimensions of image source and Mask the image source's Y-dimension might not
fit the Mask's Y-dimension,
resulting in either cropping of the image source in Y or the image source not covering the Mask's height
entirely.
Height
The image source will be scaled uniformly until it's height (Y) fits the height of the Mask.
Depending on the relative dimensions of image source and Mask the image source's X-dimension might not
fit the Mask's X-dimension,
resulting in either cropping of the image source in X or the image source not covering the Mask's width enti-
rely.
Outside
The image source will be scaled uniformly until one of it's dimensions (X or Y) fits the outside dimensions of
the Mask.
Depending on the relative dimensions of image source and Mask either the image source's width or height
may be cropped or not fit the respective dimension of the Mask.
Other Controls
Channel
Use this control to select the Channel of the input image used to create the mask. Choices include the red,
green, blue and alpha channels, the hue, luminance or saturation values, or the auxiliary coverage channel of
the input image (if one is provided).
Threshold Low/High
The Threshold range control can be used to clip the bitmap image. Increasing the value of the low control will
clip pixels below the specified value to black (0.0). Decreasing the high value will force pixels higher than the
specified value to white (1.0).
Use Object/Use Material

This control has no affect unless the input image contains a Material or Object ID channel. When toggled on,
the selected object ID and/or material ID is used to create a mask based on the selected object or material.
When toggled off, the regular color channels will generate the mask.
Image Tab
Please refer to Common Mask Controls.
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Mask Tools
[BSp] Mask Tools
B-Spline Mask
Description:
A B-Spline Mask is identical to a Polygon mask in all respects except one. Where Polygon masks use Bezier splines, this mask tool uses B-Splines. Where Bezier splines employ a main point
and two handles to manage the smoothing of the spline segment, a B-Spline requires only a single point. This means that a B-Spline shape requires far fewer control points to create a nicely
smoothed shape.
The smoothness of a B-Spline is determined by the tension of the control points. To adjust the tension of a B-Spline's control points, select the point, hold down the W key and click-drag the
mouse pointer to the left and right to increase or decrease the tension of the curve through that point.
Controls Tab

Size
Use the Size control to adjust the scale of the B-spline effect mask, without affecting the relative behavior of
the points that compose the mask or setting a keyframe in the mask animation.
X, Y And Z Rotation
Use these three controls to adjust the rotation angle of the effect mask along any axis.
Fill Method
The Fill Method drop-down menu offers two different techniques for dealing with overlapping regions of a
polyline. If overlapping segments in a mask are causing undesirable holes to appear, try switching the setting
of this control from Alternate to Non Zero Winding.
Right Click Here For Shape Animation

By default, all B-spline masks are animated when they are created. The initial keyframe is set to the current
time and any changes to the shape at different times will create new keys.
Right-clicking on this label will display a context menu that offers options for removing or re-adding animati-
on to the mask, or published and connecting the masks together.
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Mask Tools
[BSp] Mask Tools
B-Spline Mask
Adding Points
Adding Points to a B-spline effect mask is relatively simple. Immediately after creating the mask there are no
points but the mask will be in Click Append mode. Simply click once in the display wherever a point is requi-
red for the mask. Continue clicking to draw the shape of the mask. When the shape is complete, click on the
initial point again to close the mask.
When the shape is closed, the mode of the polyline will change to Insert And Modify. This allows for the ad-
justing and adding of additional points to the mask by clicking on segments of the polyline. To lock down the
mask's shape and prevent accidental changes, switch the polyline mode to Done using the polyline toolbar or
context menu.
When a B-spline mask is added to a tool, a toolbar will appear in the view with buttons that offer easy access
to the modes and tools. Hold the mouse pointer over any button in the toolbar to display a tooltip that de-
scribes that button's function.
Change the way the toolbar is displayed by right-clicking on the toolbar and selecting from the options dis-
played in the toolbar's context menu.
The function of the buttons in this toolbar are explained in depth in the Polylines chapter.
Image Tab
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Mask Tools
[Elp] Mask Tools
Ellipse Mask
Description:
The Ellipse Mask is most useful for masking round objects. It is a circle by default but independent control is offered over the width, height and angle, providing for a wide variety of ellipsoidal
shapes.
Controls Tab

Width
This control allows independent control of the ellipse mask's Width. In addition to the slider in the mask's con-
trols, interactively drag the width (left or right edge) of the mask on the view using the pointer. Any changes
will be reflected on this control.
Height
Height allows independent control of the ellipse mask's height. In addition to the slider in the mask's controls,
interactively drag the height (top or bottom edge) of the mask on the view using the pointer. Any changes will
be reflected on this control.
To change the mask's size without affecting the aspect ratio, drag the on screen control between the edges
(diagonal). This will modify both the width and height proportionately.
Angle
Change the rotational angle of the mask by moving the Angle control left or right. Values can be entered in
the input boxes provided. Alternately, use the onscreen controls by click-dragging the little circle at the end of
the dashed angle line to interactively adjust the rotation of the ellipse.
Image Tab
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Mask Tools
[PnM] Mask Tools
Mask Paint
Description:
The Mask Paint tool allows direct painting on mask images, using the mouse pointer as if it were a paintbrush. In addition to regular paint strokes, it is possible to apply basic primitive shapes
and polyline style strokes.
Each stroke can have a duration that lasts for the entire project, a single frame or field, or an arbitrary number of fields. The strokes can have independent durations in the timeline for easy
manipulation of time. Alternatively, Fusion 5.1 offers Multistrokes, a faster but non-editable way for doing many mask cleanup paint tasks.
Controls Tab
As the Paint Mask tool is fundamentally identical to the Paint tool, see the Paint tool and the Paint and Roto-
scoping chapter for more details on the many options and capabilities available. The only difference is that, as
Paint Mask operates on single-channel mask images, there is no channel selector control and all color controls
have only a single Alpha value.
Image Tab
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Mask Tools
[Ply] Mask Tools
Polygon Mask
Description:
The Polygon Mask is most useful for masking objects that do not have a regular shape. When first added to a tool, the polygon mask consists of only center and angle controls, which are
visible onscreen. Points are added to the polyline by clicking in the display view. Each new point is connected to the last one created.
Controls Tab

Size
Use the Size control to adjust the scale of the polygon effect mask, without affecting the relative behavior of
the points that compose the mask or setting a keyframe in the mask animation.
X, Y And Z Rotation
Use these three controls to adjust the rotation angle of the effect mask along any axis.
Fill Method
The Fill Method drop-down menu offers two different techniques for dealing with overlapping regions of a
polyline. If overlapping polyline segments in a mask are causing undesirable holes in the mask, try switching
the setting of this control from Alternate to Non Zero Winding.
Right Click Here For Shape Animation

By default, all polyline masks are animated when they are created. The initial keyframe is set to the current
time and any changes to the shape at different times will create new keys.
Right-clicking on this label will display a context menu that offers options for removing or re-adding animati-
on to the mask, or published and connecting masks together.
Adding Points
Adding Points to a polygonal effect mask is relatively simple. Immediately after creating the mask there are
no points, but the mask will be in Click Append mode. Simply click once in the display wherever a point is
required for the mask. Continue clicking to draw the shape of the mask. When the shape is complete, click on
the initial point again to close the mask.
When the shape is closed, the mode of the polyline will change to Insert And Modify. This allows for the ad-
justing and adding of additional points to the mask by clicking on segments of the polyline. To lock down the
mask's shape and prevent accidental changes, switch the polyline mode to Done using the polyline toolbar or
context menu.
When a polygon mask is added to a tool, a toolbar will appear in the view with buttons that offer easy access
to modes and tools. Hold the mouse pointer over any button in the toolbar to display a tooltip that describes
that button's function.
Change the way the toolbar is displayed by right-clicking on the toolbar and selecting from the options dis-
played in the toolbar's context menu.
The function of the buttons in this toolbar are explained in depth in the Polylines chapter.
Image Tab
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Mask Tools
[Rng] Top Mask Tools
Ranges Mask
Description:
Similar to Bitmap Mask, the Range Mask allows images from the flow to act as masks for tools and effects. Instead of creating a simple luminance-based mask from a given channel, Range
allows spline-based selection of low, mid and high ranges, akin to Color Corrector.
Controls Tab

Shadows/Midtones/Highlights
These buttons are used to select which range will be output by the tool as a mask. White pixels represent
pixels that are considered to be part of the range and black pixels are not included in the range. For example,
choosing Shadows would show pixels considered to be shadows as white and pixels that are not shadows as
black. Mid grey pixels are only partly in the range and will not receive the full effect of any color adjustments
to that range.
Channel
The Channel selection buttons shown in this tab can be used to extract a mask from the range of a specific
color channel. By default, Fusion uses the luminance channel when the color ranges are examined.
Spline Display
The extent of the ranges is selected by manipulating the spline handles. There are four spline points, each with
one Bezier handle. The two handles at the top represent the start of the shadow and highlight ranges, where-
as the two at the bottom represent the end of the range. The Bezier handles are used to control the falloff.
The midtones range has no specific controls since its range is understood to be the space between the
shadow and the highlight ranges. In other words, after low and high masks have been applied, midtones is
everything else.
The X and Y text controls below the Spline Display can be used to enter precise positions for the selected
Bezier point or handle.
Presets
This sets the splines to two commonly-used configurations. Simple gives a straightforward linear-weighted
selection, while Smooth uses a more natural falloff.
Image Tab
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[Rng]
Mask 257
Mask Tools
[Rec] Mask Tools
Rectangle Mask
Description:
The Rectangle Mask creates a simple square or rectangular effect mask.
Controls Tab

Width And Height

Use these controls to change the X or Y scale of the rectangular effect mask independently of each other.
Alternatively, drag the edges of the rectangle in the display view to interactively adjust its size.
Corner Radius
Corner Radius allows the corners of the rectangle mask to be rounded. A value of 0.0 is not rounding at all,
which means that the rectangle has sharp corners. A value of 1.0 will apply the maximum amount of rounding
to the corners.
Angle
Change the rotation angle of an effect mask by moving the Angle control left or right. Values can be entered
in the provided input boxes. Alternately, use the onscreen controls by click-dragging the little circle at the end
of the dashed angle line to interactively adjust the rotation of the ellipse.
Image Tab
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Mask Tools
[Tri] Mask Tools
Triangle Mask
Description:
The Triangle Mask is unique in that it has no center, size or angle control. Unlike most other types of masks, all three points of the triangle may be attached to a tracker or motion path. Com-
plex effect masking is possible using trackers and other tools' paths to manipulate the triangle shape.
Controls Tab

Point 1, Point 2, Point 3

These controls indicate the position of the three corners of the triangle. Each point can be published, connec-
ted to other controls, animated with a path, or attached to trackers. To perform any of these tasks, right-click
on the position control in the mask controls, or directly on the point in the display view, and select the appro-
priate option from the context menu.
Image Tab
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Mask Tools
[Wnd] Mask Tools
Wand Mask
Description:
The Wand Mask provides the ability to mask an image based on a magic wand-style selection, similar to the magic wand tools found in traditional 2D paint applications. As with a bitmap
mask, any image in the composition can be used as a source for the mask. Generally, the default is most useful, where the source image is the input of the tool to which the mask is applied.
Controls Tab
Note
When adding a wand mask to a
Level, Filter, Soft Edge and Border Width tool, a crosshair will appear in the
Please refer to the Common Mask Controls. display views. This crosshair should
be positioned in the image to
Selection Point select the color used to create the
The Selection Point is a pair of X and Y coordinates that determine from where in the source image the wand wand mask.The mask itself is crea-
mask derives its initial color sample. This control is also seen as a crosshair in the display views. The selection ted by examining the color of the
point can be positioned manually, connected to a tracker, path or other expressions. pixel beneath the selection point
and adding that color to the mask.
The mask then expands to examine
Color Space
the pixels surrounding the selec-
The Color Space button group determines the color space used when selecting the source color for the mask.
tion point. If the surrounding pixels
The wand mask can operate in RGB, YUV, HLS or LAB color spaces.
are the same color, they are also
added to the mask. The mask stops
Channel expanding when no connecting
The Channel button group is used to select whether the color that is masked comes from all three color chan-
pixels fall within the color range of
nels of the image, the alpha channel, or from an individual channel only.
the mask.The tool to be used as the
image source for the mask should
The exact labels of the buttons will depend on the color space selected for the wand mask operation. If the
be connected to the Source (oran-
color space is RGB, the options will be R, G or B. If YUV is the color space, the options will be Y, U or V.
ge) input on the flow. As with other
masks, the Effect Mask (blue) input
Range is used to combine the wand's
The Range slider controls the range of colors around the source color that will be included in the mask. If the result with other mask tools.Many
value is left at 0.0, only pixels of exactly the same color as the source will be considered part of the mask. The of the controls found in this mask
higher the value, the more that similar colors in the source will be considered to be wholly part of the mask. tool are common to all mask tools.
These controls are documented at
Range Soft Edge
Common Mask Controls.
The Range Soft Edge determines the falloff range of the colors selected. Any pixel within the range defined
above will be treated as 100% within the mask. If the soft range is set to 0.0, no other pixels will be considered
for the mask. Increasing the soft range will increase the number of colors close to, but not quite within, the
range that will be included in the mask. These pixels will be semi-transparent in the mask.
Image Tab
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Matte Tools
Alpha Divide Alpha Multiply Chroma Keyer Difference Keyer Luma Keyer
Matte Control Ultra Keyer

Matte Tools
[ADv] Matte Tools
Alpha Divide
Description:
As the name gives away, the Alpha Divides sole purpose is to divide an incoming image by its Alpha Channel.
Controls Tab
This tool has no controls.
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Matte Tools
[AMl] Matte Tools
Alpha Multiply
Description:
As the name gives away, the AlphaMultiplys sole purpose is to multiply an incoming image with its Alpha Channel.
Controls Tab
This tool has no controls.
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Matte Tools
[CKy] Matte Tools
Chroma Keyer
Description:
The Chroma Keyer Tool creates an alpha channel (matte) for an image by removing selected colors from the scene. Unlike the Ultrakeyer, which has specific optimizations for keying from blue
and green colors, the chroma keyer works equally well with any color.
Chroma Key Tab
Key Type
This determines the type of selection to be used for the matte creation.
Chroma
Chroma causes a matte to be created based on the RGB values of the selected color range.
Color
This causes a matte to be created based on the hue of the selected color range.
Color Range
These range controls update automatically to represent the current color selection. Colors are selected by
selecting the chroma keyer tool's tile in the flow, then click-dragging in the display view to select the colors to
be used to create the matte. These range controls can be used to tweak the selection slightly, although gene-
rally selecting colors in the displays is all that is required.
Lock Color Picking

When this checkbox is selected, Fusion will prevent accidental growing of the selected range by selecting
more colors from the view. It is a good idea to select this checkbox once the color selection has been made
for the matte. All other controls in the tool remain editable.
Soft Range
This control softens the selected color range to include additional colors into the matte.
Reset Color Ranges

Clicking on this button resets the chroma keyer's range controls, discarding all color selections. All other sli-
ders and controls maintain their values.
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Matte Tools
[CKy] Matte Tools
Chroma Keyer
Image Tab
Spill Color
Use these buttons to select the color used as the base for all spill suppression techniques.
Spill Suppression
Spill is generally caused by the transmission of the color of the background through the semitransparent areas
of the alpha channel. In the case of blue or green screen keying, this usually causes the color of the back-
ground to become apparent in the fringe of the foreground element.
Spill suppression attempts to remove color from the fringe. The process used is optimized for either Blue or
Green screens, and you select which color is used as the base from the control above.
When this slider is set to 0 no spill suppression is applied to the image.
Spill Method
This selects the strength of the algorithm used to apply spill suppression to the image.
None
None is selected when no spill suppression is required.
Rare
This removes very little of the spill color, the lightest of all methods.
Medium
This works best for green screens.
Well Done
This medium works best for blue screens
Burnt
This works best for blue. Use this mode only for very troublesome shots. Most likely you will have to add
strong color correction after the key to get e.g. your skintones back.
Fringe Gamma
This control can be used to adjust the brightness of the fringe or halo that surrounds the keyed image.
Fringe Size
This expands and contracts the size of the fringe or halo surrounding the keyed image.
Fringe Shape
Fringe Shape forces the fringe to be pressed toward the external edge of the image or pulled toward the inner
edge of the fringe. Its effect is most noticeable while the Fringe Size sliders value is large.
Cyan/Red, Magenta/Green And Yellow/Blue

Use these three controls to color correct the fringe of the image. This is useful for correcting semi-transparent
pixels that still contain color from the original background to match the new background.
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Matte Tools
[CKy] Matte Tools
Chroma Keyer
Chroma Keyer Matte Tab
Matte Blur
Matte Blur blurs the edge of the matte using a standard constant speed gaussian blur. A value of zero results
in a sharp, cutout-like hard edge. The higher the value, the more blur applied to the matte.
Matte Contract/Expand
This slider shrinks or grows the semi-transparent areas of the matte. Values above 0.0 expand the matte while
values below 0.0 contract it.
This control is usually used in conjuction with the Matte Blur to take the hard edge of a matte and reduce
fringing. Since this control only affects semi-transparent areas, it will have no affect on a hard edge's matte.
Matte Gamma
Matte Gamma raises or lowers the values of the matte in the semi-transparent areas. Higher values cause the
gray areas to become more opaque and lower values cause the gray areas to become more transparent. Com-
pletely black or white regions of the matte remain unaffected.
Since this control only affects semi-transparent areas it will have no affect on a hard edge's matte.
Matte Threshold
Any value below the lower threshold becomes black or transparent in the matte. Any value above the upper
threshold becomes white or opaque in the matte. All values within the range maintain their relative transpa-
rency values.
This control is often used to reject salt and pepper noise in the matte.
Invert Matte
When this checkbox is selected, the alpha channel created by the keyer is inverted, causing all transparent
areas to be opaque and all opaque areas to be transparent.
Garbage Matte Mode

Garbage mattes are mask tools or images connected to the Garbage Matte input on the tool's tile. The garba-
ge matte is applied directly to the alpha channel of the image. Generally, garbage mattes are used to remove
unwanted elements that cannot be keyed, such as microphones and booms. They are also used to fill in areas
that contain the color being keyed, but that the artist wishes to maintain.
Garbage mattes of different modes cannot be mixed within a single tool. A matte control tool is often used
after a keyer tool to add a garbage matte with the opposite effect of the matte applied to the keyer.
Make Transparent
Select this button to make the Garbage Matte transparent.
Make Solid
Select this button to make the Garbage Matte solid.
Post Multiply Image

Select this option to cause the keyer to multiply the color channels of the image against the alpha channel it
creates for the image. This option is usually enabled, and is on by default.
Deselect this checkbox and the image can no longer be considered pre-multiplied for purposes of merging it
with other images. Use the Subtractive option of the Merge tool instead of the Additive option.
For more information, see the Merge tools documentation.
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Matte Tools
[DKy] Matte Tools
Difference Keyer
Description:
Difference keying is a process that produces a matte based on the differences between two images. A difference key uses two input images, one containing the subject with the background
and another containing the background without the subject.
The Difference Keyer tool is very sensitive and, although the process sounds reasonable at first glance, subtle variations in the position of the camera from shot to shot usually make it difficult
to pull a highly-detailed alpha channel using this method. Think of the futile attempt of trying to key smoke in front of a brick wall and using a clean plate of the brick wall as your difference
input. Part of the wall's structure will always be visible in this keying method. Instead, a difference keyer is often used to produce a rough matte that is combined with other tools to produce a
more detailed matte.
Controls Tab
Threshold High And Low

This slider works by defining a range of difference values between the images to create a matte. A difference
below the lower threshold becomes black in the matte. Any difference above the upper threshold becomes
white (solid) in the matte. The difference values in the range in between create a gray scale matte.
{{F6 Matte Filter

Matte Blur
This blurs the edge of the matte using a standard constant speed gaussian blur. A value of zero results in a
sharp, cutout-like hard edge. The higher the value, the more blur.
Matte Contrast
The Matte Contrast slider changes the look up table curve of the matte's luminance values. This creates a soft
cropping of the matte at the low end of the slider and a hard edge expansion of the matte at higher slider
values.
Matte Gamma
Matte Gamma raises or lowers the values of the matte in the semi-transparent areas. Higher values cause
the gray areas to be more opaque and lower values cause the gray areas to be more transparent. Completely
black or white regions of the matte remain unaffected.
Invert
Selecting this checkbox inverts the matte, causing all transparent areas to be opaque and all opaque areas to
be transparent.
Garbage Matte Mode

Make Transparent
Make Solid
Post Multiply Image

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Matte Tools
[LKy] Matte Tools
Luma Keyer
Description:
The Luma Keyer Tool uses the overall luminance of an image to create an alpha channel. When this tool was first created it was used exclusively on the luminance channel of the image, but it
has since grown to allow pulling mattes from virtually any channel Fusion understands. In some respects, it would now be more accurate to call this tool a Channel Keyer.
Controls Tab
Channel
Use this drop-down list to select the color channel used for creating the matte. Select from the Red, Green,
Blue, Alpha, Hue, Luminance, Saturation and Depth (Z-Buffer) channels.
Threshold High And Low

This slider works by defining a range of luminance values in the image to create a matte. Any value below the
lower threshold becomes black in the matte. Any value above the upper threshold becomes white (solid) in
the matte. All values within the range create the gray scale matte.
{{F6 Matte Filter

Matte Blur
Matte Contrast
The contrast slider changes the look up table curve of the mattes luminance values. This creates a soft crop-
ping of the matte at the low end of the slider and a hard edge expansion of the matte at higher slider values.
Matte Gamma
Matte Gamma raises or lowers the values of the matte in the semi-transparent areas. Higher values cause
the gray areas to be more opaque and lower values cause the gray areas to be more transparent. Completely
Invert
When toggled on, the matte is inverted, causing all transparent areas to be opaque and all opaque areas to be
transparent.
Garbage Matte
Make Transparent
Make Solid
Post Multiply Image

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Matte Tools
[Mat] Matte Tools
Matte Control
Description:
Keyer tools are generally used to create an alpha channel on an image that does not already have one. The Matte Control Tool is used to manipulate an existing alpha channel, or to create one
by hand via rotoscoping.
The Matte Control tool also has a foreground image input. Use this tool to copy a color channel or alpha channel from the foreground to the background, or to combine alpha channels from
the two images.
Controls Tab
Matte Combine
The matte control tool can combine alpha or color channels from an image in the foreground input with the back-
ground image. Use this menu to select which operation is applied. The default is set to None for no operation.
None
This causes the foreground image to be ignored.
Combine Red
This combines the FG red channel to the BG alpha channel.
Combine Green
This combines the FG green channel to the BG alpha channel.
Combine Blue
This combines the FG blue channel with the BG alpha channel.
Combine Alpha
This combines the FG alpha channel with the BG alpha channel.
Solid
This causes the BG alpha channel to become completely opaque.
Clear
This causes the BG alpha channel to become completely transparent.
Combine Operation
Use this menu to select the method used to combine the foreground channel with the background.
Copy
This copies the foreground source over the background alpha, overwriting any existing alpha in the background.
Add
This adds the foreground source to the background alpha.
Subtract
This subtracts foreground source from the background alpha.
Inverse Subtract
This subtracts the background alpha from the foreground source.
Maximum
This compares the foreground source and the background alpha and takes the value from the pixel with the highest
value.
Minimum
This compares the foreground source and the background alpha and takes the value from the pixel with the lowest
value.
And
This performs a logical AND on the two values.
Or
This performs a logical OR on the values.
Merge Over
This merges the foreground source channel over the background alpha channel.
Merge Under
This merges the foreground source channel under the background alpha channel.
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Matte Tools
[Mat] Matte Tools
Matte Control
Filter
Selection of the Filter that is used when blurring the matte.
Box Blur
This option applies a Box Blur effect to the whole image. This method is faster than the Gaussian blur but
produces a lower quality result.
Bartlett
Bartlett applies a more subtle, anti-aliased blur filter.
Multi-Box
Multi-Box uses a box filter layered in multiple passes to approximate a Gaussian shape. With a moderate num-
ringing.
Gaussian
Gaussian applies a smooth, symmetrical blur filter, using a sophisticated constant-time Gaussian approxima-
tion algorithm. In extreme cases, this algorithm may exhibit ringing; see below for a discussion of this. This
mode is the default filter method.
Matte Blur
This blurs the edge of the matte using a standard constant speed gaussian blur. A value of zero results in a
sharp, cutout-like hard edge. The higher the value, the more blur applied to the matte.
This shrinks or grows the matte to exclude some of the keyed image or include some of its surrounding area.
Values above 0.0 expand the matte and values below 0.0 contract it.
Matte Gamma
This raises or lowers the values of the matte in the semi-transparent areas. Higher values cause the gray areas
to become more opaque and lower values cause the gray areas to become more transparent. Completely
Matte Threshold
rency values.
Invert Matte
When this checkbox is selected, the alpha channel of the image is inverted, causing all transparent areas to be
opaque and all opaque areas to be transparent.
Garbage Matte
Garbage mattes are mask tools or images connected to the Garbage Matte input on the tools tile. The garba-
Garbage mattes of different modes cannot be mixed within a single tool. A Matte Control tool is often used
Make Transparent
Make Solid
Post Multiply Image

Multiply Garbage Matte

When selected, the values of the image's red, green and blue channels will be multiplied against the garbage
matte input.
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Matte Tools
[Mat] Matte Tools
Matte Control
Spill Tab
Spill Color
Use these buttons to select the color used as the base for all spill suppression techniques.
Spill Suppression
When this slider is set to 0, no spill suppression is applied to the image.
Spill Method
None
Rare
Medium
Well Done
Burnt
This works best for blue. Use this mode only for very troublesome shots.
Fringe Gamma

Fringe Size
Fringe Shape
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Matte Tools
[UKy] Matte Tools
Ultra Keyer
Description:
The Ultra Keyer Tool is very similar to the chroma key tool, except that it has been specifically optimized to extract mattes from images using bluescreen or greenscreen backgrounds.
Pre Matte Tab
Color Background
The Ultra Keyer is optimized for the removal of blue or green backgrounds. Select the color that matches the
image's background using these buttons.
Background Correction
Depending on the Background Color selected above the Keyer will iteratively merge the pre-keyed image over
either a blue or green background before processing it further.
In certain cases this leads to better, more subtle edges.
Matte Separation
Matte Seperation performs a pre-process on the image to help separate the foreground from the background
before color selection. Generally, increase this control while viewing the alpha to eliminate the bulk of the
background, but stop just before it starts cutting holes in the subject or eroding fine detail on the edges of
the matte.
PreMatte Range
These range controls update automatically to represent the current color selection. Generally, the reveal con-
trol does not have to be opened to display these controls.
Colors are selected by selecting the Ultra Keyer tool's tile in the flow and click-dragging in the display view
to select the colors to be used to create the matte. These range controls can be used to tweak the selection
slightly, although generally selecting colors in the displays is all that is required.
Lock Color Picking

When this checkbox is selected, Fusion will prevent accidental growing of the selected range by selecting
more colors from the view. It is a good idea to select this checkbox once the color selection is made for the
matte. All other controls in the tool remain editable.
Pre Matte Size

The Pre Matte Size control can be used to soften the general area around the keyed image. This is used to
close holes in the matte often caused by spill in semi-transparent areas of the subject. This generally will also
cause a small halo around the subject, which can be removed using the matte contract tools found later in the
tool.
Reset Pre Matte Ranges

This discards all color selection by resetting the ranges but maintains all other slider and control values.
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Matte Tools
[UKy] Matte Tools
Ultra Keyer
Image Tab
Spill Suppression
When this slider is set to 0, no spill suppression is applied to the image.
Spill Method
None
Rare
Medium
Well Done
Burnt
This works best for blue. Use this mode only for very troublesome shots.
Fringe Gamma
Fringe Size
Fringe Shape

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Matte Tools
[UKy] Matte Tools
Ultra Keyer
Matte Tab
Matte Blur
This slider shrinks or grows the semi-transparent areas of the matte. Values above 0.0 expand the matte while
values below 0.0 contract it.
This control is usually used in conjuction with the Matte Blur to take the hard edge of a matte and reduce
fringing. Since this control only affects semi-transparent areas, it will have no affect on a hard edge's matte.
Matte Gamma
Matte Gamma raises or lowers the values of the matte in the semi-transparent areas. Higher values cause the
gray areas to become more opaque and lower values cause the gray areas to become more transparent. Com-
pletely black or white regions of the matte remain unaffected.
Since this control only affects semi-transparent areas it will have no affect on a hard edge's matte.
Matte Threshold
rency values.
This control is often used to reject salt and pepper noise in the matte.
Invert Matte
When this checkbox is selected, the alpha channel created by the keyer is inverted, causing all transparent
areas to be opaque and all opaque areas to be transparent.
Garbage Matte Mode

Make Transparent
Make Solid
Post Multiply Image

1988-2014 eyeon software - www.eyeonline.com Ultra Keyer 274

Metadata Tools
Copy Metadata Set Metadata Set Timecode

Metadata Tools
[Meta] Metadata Tools
Copy Metadata
Description:
Copy Metadata combines, replaces or clears the Metadata in your image.
Controls Tab
Operation
The dropdown defines how the Metadata of Foreground and background input are treated.
Imagine having Metadata in the Background image looking like this:
and the Foregrounds Metadata looking like this:
Merge (Replace Duplicates)

All values will be merged, but values with duplicate names will be taken from the Foreground input.
The output looks like this:
Merge (Preserve Duplicates)

All values will be merged, but values with duplicate names will taken from the Background input.
Replace
The entire Metadata in the Background will be replaced by the ones in the Foreground.
Clear
All Metadata will be discarded.
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Metadata Tools
[SMeta] Metadata Tools
Set Metadata
Description:
Set Metadata allows to create new Name = Value pairs in the Metadata.
Controls Tab
Field Name
The name of the Metadata Value. Do not use spaces in here.
Field Value
The value assigned to the name above.
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Metadata Tools
[TCMeta] Metadata Tools
Set Timecode
Description:
Set Timecode inserts dynamic timecode values into the metadata table based on the FPS settings.
Controls Tab
FPS
You can choose from a variety of Frame Per Second settings here.
Since this is a Fuse you can easily adapt the settings to your needs by editing the appropriate piece of code
for the buttons:
MBTNC_StretchToFit = true,
{ MBTNC_AddButton = 24 },
})
as well as for the actual values:
local rates = { 24, 25, 30, 48, 50, 60 }
Hours / Minutes / Seconds / Frames sliders

Define an offset from the starting frame of the current comp.
Print to Console
Verbose output of the Timecode/Frame value in the Console.
The Timecode/Frames conversion is done according to the FPS settings.
The result can look like this:
TimeCode: 00:00:08:15
Frames: 207
1988-2014 eyeon software - www.eyeonline.com [TCMeta] 278

Misc Tools
Auto Domain Change Depth Custom Fields Run Command
Set Canvas Color Set Domain Time Speed Time Stretcher

Misc Tools
[ADoD] Misc Tools
Auto Domain
Description:
The Auto Domain tool automatically sets the images domain of definition based on bounds of the input images background Canvas color. It does not change the image's physical dimensions.
This tool can be used to speed up compositions by optimizing the DOD of images based on their content rather than their dimensions.
For example, a CG character rarely takes up the entire frame of an image. The Auto Domain tool would set the DOD to a rectangular region encompassing the characters portion of the scene
actually containing the character. The DOD is updated on each frame to accomodate changes, such as a character walking closer to the camera.
See the Set Canvas Color tool for more information about the Canvas color. A video tutorial demonstrating the use of Auto-Domain can also be found on [http//www.youtube.com/
watch?v=CtPKm3EFXl4 eyeon Software's YouTube channel.]
Controls Tab
Left
Defines the left border of the search area of the ADoD. Higher values on this slider move the left border to-
wards the right, excluding more data from the left margin.
1 represents the right border of the image, 0 represents the left border.
The slider defaults to 0. (Left Border)
Bottom
Defines the bottom border of the search area of the ADoD. Higher values on this slider move the bottom bor-
der towards the top, excluding more data from the bottom margin.
1 represents the Top border of the image, 0 represents the bottom border.
The slider defaults to 0. (Bottom Border)
Right
Defines the right border of the search area of the ADoD. Higher values on this slider move the right border
towards the left, excluding more data from the right margin.
The slider defaults to 1. (Right Border)
Top
Defines the top border of the search area of the ADoD. Higher values on this slider move the top border to-
wards the bottom, excluding more data from the top margin.
1 represents the top border of the image, 0 represents the bottom border.
The slider defaults to 1. (Top Border)
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Misc Tools
[CD] Misc Tools
Change Depth
Description:
The Change Depth tool has one simple use to change the bits per color channel used to process a tool. The single control for this tool is Depth, which contains five buttons. Select Keep to
leave the color depth as is, or either 8 bit, 16 bit or Float to change to the selected color depth.
This tool is often used after color correcting Cineon files, converting from Float processing to 16 bit per channel to preserve memory and performance.
It can also be useful if from a certain point in your flow you feel the need to process your images in a higher bit depth than their original one or to reduce the bitdepth to save memory.
Controls Tab
Depth
Keep doesn't do anything to the image but rather keeps the input depth.
The other options change the bitdepth of the image to the respective value.
Dither
When down converting from higher bit depth it might be useful to add Error Diffusion or additive noise to
camouflage artifacts that result from problematic (high contrast) areas.
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Misc Tools
[Cu] Misc Tools
Custom
Description:
The Custom tool is quite likely the most complex, and the most powerful, tool in Fusion. Any user moderately experienced with scripting, or C++ programming, should find the structure and
terminology used by the Custom tool to be familiar.
The Custom tool is used to create custom expressions and filters to modify an image. In addition to providing three image inputs, the Custom tool will allow for the connection of up to eight
numeric inputs and as many as four XY position values from other controls and parameters in the flow.
Per-pixel calculations can be performed on the Red, Green, Blue, Alpha, Z, Z Coverage, UV texture coords, XYZ Normals, RGBA background color and XY motion vector channels of the images.
Custom Controls Tab
Point In 1-4, X And Y

These four controls are 2D X and Y center controls that are available to expressions entered in the Setup,
Intermediate and Channels tabs as variables p1x, p1y, ...., p4x, p4y. They are normal positional controls and can
be animated or connected to modifiers as any other tool might.
Number In 1-8
The values of these controls are available to expressions entered in the Setup, Intermediate and Channels tabs
as variables n1, n2, n3, ..., n8. They are normal slider controls, and can be animated or connected to modifiers
exactly as any other tool might.
LUT in 1-4
Since Fusion 6.1 the Custom tool now provides 4 LUT splines. The values of these controls are available to
expressions entered in the Setup, Intermediate and Channels tabs using the getlut# function. For example,
setting the r, g, b and a expressions to getlut1(r1), getlut2(g1), getlut3(b1), and getlut4(a1) respectively would
cause the Custom tool to mimic the Color Curves tool.
These controls can be renamed using the options in the Config tab to make their meanings more apparent,
but expressions will still see the values as n1, n2, ..., n8.
Custom Setup Tab
Setup 1-4
Up to four separate expressions can be calculated in the Setup tab of the Custom tool. The Setup expressions
are evaluated once per frame, before any other calculations are performed. The results are then made availab-
le to the other expressions in the Custom tool as variables s1, s2, s3 and s4.
Note that, because these expressions are evaluated once per frame only and not for each pixel, it makes no
sense to use per-pixel variables like x and y or channel variables like r1,g1,b1 etc. Allowable values include
constants, variables like n1..n8, time, w and h etc, and functions like sin() or getr1d().
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Misc Tools
[Cu] Misc Tools
Custom
Custom Inter Tab
Intermediate 1-4
An additional four expressions can be calculated in the Inter tab. The Inter expressions are evaluated once per
pixel, after the Setup expressions are evaluated but before the Channel expressions are evaluated. Per-pixel
channel variables like r1,g1,b1 and a1 are allowable. Results are available as variables i1, i2, i3 and i4.
Custom Config Tab
Random Seed
Use this to set the seed for the rand() and rands() functions. Click the Randomize button to set the seed to a
random value. This control may be needed if multiple Custom tools are required with different random results
for each.
Number Controls
There are eight sets of Number controls, corresponding to the eight Number In sliders in the Controls tab.
Untick the Show Number checkbox to hide the corresponding Number In slider, or edit the Name for Number
text field to change its name.
Point Controls
There are four sets of Point controls, corresponding to the four Point In controls in the Controls tab. Untick the
Show Point checkbox to hide the corresponding Point In control and its crosshair in the Display view. Similarly,
edit the Name for Point text field to change the control's name.
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Misc Tools
[Cu] Misc Tools
Custom
Channels Tab
RGBA, Z, UV Expressions And XYZ Normal Expressions

The Channel tab is used to set up one expression per each available channel of the image. Each expression is
evaluated once per pixel, and the result is used to create the value for that pixel in the output of the image.
Color Channel expressions (RGBA) should generally return floating point values between 0.0 and 1.0. Values
beyond this will be clipped if the destination image is integer. Other expression fields should produce values
appropriate to their channel (e.g. between -1.0 and 1.0 for vector and normal fields, 0.0 to 1.0 for Coverage, or
any value for Depth). The Channel expressions may use the results from both the Setup expressions (as variab-
les s1-s4) and Inter expressions (as variables i1-i4).

Misc Tools
[Cu] Misc Tools
Custom
Custom Tool Syntax
Value Variables
n1..n8 Numeric Inputs

p1x..p4x Position Values (X-axis)
p1y..p4y Position Values (Y-axis)
s1..s4 Setup Expression Results
i1..i4 Inter Expression Results
time Current Frame
x Horizontal co-ordinate of the current pixel, between 0.0 and 1.0
y Vertical co-ordinate of the current pixel, between 0.0 and 1.0
w (or w1..w3) Width of Image (for image1..image3)
h (or h1..h3) Height of Image (for image1..image3)
ax (or ax1..ax3) Image Aspect X (for image1..image3)
ay (or ay1..ay3) Image Aspect Y (for image1..image3)
Notes
Use w and h and ax and ay without a following number to get the dimensions and aspect of the primary
image..
Channel (Pixel) Variables.
c1..c3 Current Channel (for image1..image3)

r1..r3 Red (for image1..image3)
g1..g3 Green (for image1..image3)
b1..b3 Blue (for image1..image3)
a1..a3 Alpha (for image1..image3)
z1..z3 Z-Buffer (for image1..image3)
cv1..cv3 Z Coverage (for image1..image3)
u1..u3 U Coordinate (for image1..image3)
v1..v3 V Coordinate (for image1..image3)
nx1..nx3 X Normal (for image1..image3)
ny1..ny3 Y Normal (for image1..image3)
nz1..nz3 Z Normal (for image1..image3)
bgr1..bgr3 Background Red (for image1..image3)
bgg1..bgg3 Background Green (for image1..image3)
bgb1..bgb3 Background Blue (for image1..image3)
bga1..bga3 Background Alpha (for image1..image3)
vx1..vx3 X Vector (for image1..image3)
vy1..vy3 Y Vector (for image1..image3)
Notes
Use c1, c2, c3 to refer to the value of a pixel in the current channel. This makes copy/pasting expressions ea-
sier. For example, if c1/2 is typed as the red expression, the result would be half the value of the red pixel from
image 1, but if the expression is copied to the blue channel, now it would have the value of the pixel from the
blue channel.
To refer to the red value of the current pixel in input one, type r1. For the image in input 2, it would be r2.
get[ch][#]b(x, y) Read pixel at x,y, or 0 if out of bounds.e.g. getr1b(0,0)

get[ch][#]d(x, y) Read pixel at x,y or edge pixel if out of bounds.e.g. getr1d(0,0)
get[ch][#]w(x, y) Read pixel at x,y or wrap if out of boundse.g. getr1w(0,0)

Misc Tools
[Cu] Top Misc Tools
Custom
Notes
There are a variety of methods used to refer to pixels from other locations than the current one in an image.
In the above description [ch] is a letter representing the channel to access, and [#] is a number representing the
input image. So to get the red component of the current pixel (equivalent to 'r'), you would use getr1b(x,y). To
get the alpha component of the pixel at the center of image 2 you would use geta2b(0.5, 0.5).
getr1b(x,y) output the red value of the pixel at position x, y, if there were a valid pixel present. It would output
0.0, if the position were beyond the boundaries of the image (all channels).
getr1d(x,y) output the red value of the pixel at position x, y. If the position specified were outside of the bound-
aries of the image, the result would be from the outer edge of the image (RGBA only).
getr1w(x,y) output the red value of the pixel at position x, y. If the position specified were outside of the
boundaries of the image, the x and y co-ordinates would wrap around to the other side of the image and conti-
nue from there (RGBA only).
To access other channel values with these functions, substitute the r in the above examples with the correct
channel variable. (r, g, b, a and, for the getr1b() functions only, z, etc...) as shown above. Substitute the 1 with
either 2 or 3 in the above examples to access the images from the other image inputs.
Mathematical Expressions.
pi The value of pi
e The value of e
log(x) The base-10 log of x
ln(x) The natural (base-e) log of x
sin(x) The sine of x (x is degrees)
cos(x) The cosine of x (x is degrees)
tan(x) The tangent of x (x is degrees)
asin(x) The arcsine of x, in degrees
acos(x) The arccosine of x, in degrees
atan(x) The arctangent of x, in degrees
atan2(x,y) The arctangent of x,y, in degrees
abs(x) The absolute (positive) value of x
int(x) The integer (whole) value of x
frac(x) The fractional value of x
sqrt(x) The Square Root of x
rand(x,y) A random value between x and y
rands(x,y,s) A random value between x and y, based on seed s
min(x,y) The minimum (lowest) of x and y
max(x,y) The maximum (highest) of x and y
dist(x1,y1,x2,y2) The distance between point x1,y2 and x2,y2
dist3d(x1,y1,z1,x2,y2,z2) The distance between 3D points x1,y2,z1 and x2,y2,z2
noise(x) A smoothly varying Perlin noise value based on x
noise2(x, y) A smoothly varying Perlin noise value based on x and y
noise3(x, y, z) A smoothly varying Perlin noise value based on x, y and z
if(c, x, y) returns x if c not 0, otherwise y

Misc Tools
[Cu] Misc Tools
Custom
Mathematical Operators.
!x 1.0 if x = 0, otherwise 0.0

-x (0.0 - x)
+x (0.0 + x) i.e. effectively does nothing
x^y x raised to the power of y
x*y x multiplied by y
x/y x divided by y
x%y x modulo y, i.e. remainder of (x divided by y)
x+y x plus y
x-y x minus y
x<y 1.0 if x is less than y, otherwise 0.0
x>y 1.0 if x is greater than y, otherwise 0.0
x <= y 1.0 if x is less than or equal to y, otherwise 0.0
x >= y 1.0 if x is greater than or equal to y, otherwise 0.0
x=y 1.0 if x is exactly equal to y, otherwise 0.0
x == y 1.0 if x is exactly equal to y, otherwise 0.0, identical to above
x <> y 1.0 if x is not equal to y, otherwise 0.0
x != y 1.0 if x is not equal to y, otherwise 0.0, i.e. identical to above
x&y 1.0 if both x and y are not 0.0, otherwise 0.0
x && y 1.0 if both x and y are not 0.0, otherwise 0.0, i.e. identical to above
x|y 1.0 if either x or y (or both) are not 0.0, otherwise 0.0
x||y 1.0 if either x or y (or both) are not 0.0, otherwise 0.0

Misc Tools
[Cu] Misc Tools
Custom
Example
The following examples are intended to help you understand the various components of the Custom tool.
Rotation
To rotate an image, we need the standard equations for 2D rotation:
x' = x * cos(theta) - y * sin(theta)

y' = x * sin(theta) + y * cos(theta)
Using the n1 slider for the angle theta, and a sample function, we get (for the red channel):
getr1b(x * cos(n1) - y * sin(n1), x * sin(n1) + y * cos(n1))
This will calculate the current pixel's (x,y) position rotated around the origin at (0,0) (the bottom-left corner), and then
fetch the red component from the source pixel at this rotated position. For centred rotation, we need to subtract 0.5
from our x and y coordinates before we rotate them, and add 0.5 back to them afterwards:
getr1b((x-.5) * cos(n1) - (y-.5) * sin(n1) + .5, (x-.5) * sin(n1) + (y-.5) * cos(n1) + .5)
Which brings us to the next lesson Setup and Intermediate Expressions. These are useful for speeding things up
by minimising the work that gets done in the channel expressions. The Setup expressions are executed only
once, and their results don't change for any pixel, so you can use these for s1 and s2 respectively
cos(n1)
sin(n1)
Intermediate expressions are executed once for each pixel, so you can use these for i1 and i2:
(x-.5) * s1 - (y-.5) * s2 + .5
(x-.5) * s2 + (y-.5) * s1 + .5
These are the x and y parameters for the getr1b() function, from above, but with the Setup results, s1 and s2, substitu-
ted so that the trig functions are executed only once per frame, not every pixel. Now you can use these intermediate
results in your channel expressions:
getr1b(i1, i2)
getg1b(i1, i2)
getb1b(i1, i2)
geta1b(i1, i2)
With the Intermediate expressions substituted in, we only have to do all the adds, subtracts and multiplies once per
pixel, instead of four times per pixel. As a rule of thumb, if it doesn't change, do it only once.
This is a simple rotation that doesn't take into account image aspect at all. It is left as an exercise to the reader to inclu-
de this (sorry). Another improvement could be to allow rotation around different points than the center.

Misc Tools
[Cu] Misc Tools
Custom
Filtering
Our second example duplicates the functionality of a 3x3 Custom Filter tool set to averages the current pixel together
with the eight pixels surrounding it. To duplicate it with a Custom tool, add a Custom tool to the Flow, and enter the
following expressions into the Setup tab.
(Leave the tool disconnected to prevent it from updating until we are ready.)
S1
1.0/w1
S2
1.0/h1
These two expressions will be evaluated at the beginning of each frame. S1 divides 1.0 by the current width of the
frame, and S2 divides 1.0 by the height. This provides a Floating Point value between 0.0 and 1.0 that represents the
distance from the current pixel to the next pixel along each axis.
Now enter the following expression into the first text control of the Channel tab (r)
(getr1w(x-s1, y-s2) + getr1w(x, y-s2) + getr1w(x+s1, y-s2) +

getr1w(x+s1, y) + getr1w(x-s1, y) + r1 +
getr1w(x-s1, y+s2) + getr1w(x, y+s2) + getr1w(x+s1, y+s2)) / 9
This expression adds the nine pixels above the current pixel together by calling the getr1w() function nine times and
providing it with values relative to the current position. Note that we referred to the pixels by using x+s1, y+s2 rather
than using x+1, y+1.
Fusion refers to pixels as Floating Point values between 0.0 and 1.0, which is why we created the expressions we used in
the Setup tab. If we had used x+1, y+1 instead, the expression would have sampled the exact same pixel over and over
again. (The function we used wraps the pixel position around the image if the offset values are out of range.)
That took care of the red channel, now use the following expressions for the green, blue and alpha channels.
(getg1w(x-s1, y-s2) + getg1w(x, y-s2) + getg1w(x+s1, y-s2) +

getg1w(x+s1, y) + getg1w(x-s1, y) + g1 +
getg1w(x-s1, y+s2) + getg1w(x, y+s2) + getg1w(x+s1, y+s2)) / 9
(getb1w(x-s1, y-s2) + getb1w(x, y-s2) + getb1w(x+s1, y-s2) +

getb1w(x+s1, y) + getb1w(x-s1, y) + b1 +
getb1w(x-s1, y+s2) + getb1w(x, y+s2) + getb1w(x+s1, y+s2)) / 9
(geta1w(x-s1, y-s2) + geta1w(x, y-s2) + geta1w(x+s1, y-s2) +

geta1w(x+s1, y) + geta1w(x-s1, y) + a1 + geta1w(x-s1, y+s2) +
geta1w(x, y+s2) + geta1w(x+s1, y+s2)) / 9
It is time to view the results. Add a Background tool set to solid color and change the color to a pure red. Add a hard
edged rectangular Effects Mask and connect it to the expression just created.
For comparison, add a Custom Filter tool and duplicate the settings from the image above. Connect a pipe to this tool
from the background to the tool and view the results. Alternate between viewing the Custom tool and the Custom Filter
while zoomed in close to the top corners of the Effects Mask.
Of course, the Custom Filter tool renders a lot faster than the Custom tool we created, but the flexibility of the Custom
tool is its primary advantage. For example, you could use an image connected to input 2 to control the median applied
to input one by changing all instances of getr1w, getg1w, and getb1w in the expression to getr2w, getg2w, and getb2w,
but leaving the r1, g1, and b1s as they are.
This is just one example, the possibilities of the Custom tool are limitless.

Misc Tools
[Fld] Misc Tools
Fields
Description:
The Fields tool is a robust multi-purpose utility offering several functions related to interlaced video frames. It interpolates separate video fields into video frames, or separates video frames
into individual fields. It can be used to assist in the standards conversion of PAL to NTSC, and provides the ability to process fields and frames for specific portions of a flow.
For more information about how Fusion handles fields processing, consult the Frame Formats chapter in this manual.
Controls Tab
Operation
This control is used to select the type of operation the tool will perform.
See below for a closer explanation.
Process Mode
This control is used to select the field's format used for the output image.
See below for a closer explanation.
Operation
Do Nothing
This causes the images to be effected by the Process Mode selection exclusively.
Strip Field 2
This removes field 2 from the input image stream, which shortens the image to half of the original height.
Strip Field 1
This removes field 1 from the input image stream, which shortens the image to half of the original height.
Strip Field 2 and Interpolate

This removes field 2 from the input image stream and inserts a field interpolated from field 1 so that image
height is maintained. Should be supplied with frames, not fields.
Strip Field 1 and Interpolate

This removes field 1 from the input image stream and inserts a field interpolated from field 2 so that image
height is maintained. Should be supplied with frames, not fields.
Interlace
This combines fields from the input image stream(s). If supplied with one image stream, each pair of frames
will be combined to form half of the amount of double height frames. If supplied with two image streams,
single frames from each stream will be combined to form double height images.
De-Interlace
This separates fields from one input image stream. This will produce double the amount of half height frames.
Reverse Field Dominance

When selected, the Field Order or Dominance of the image will be swapped.
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Misc Tools
[Fld] Misc Tools
Fields
Process
Full Frames
This forces frame processing. Useful for processing frames in a part of a flow that is otherwise field processing.
NTSC Fields
This forces NTSC Field Processing. Useful for processing fields in a part of a flow that is otherwise frame pro-
cessing.
PAL Fields
This forces PAL Field Processing. Useful for processing fields in a part of a flow that is otherwise frame proces-
sing.
PAL Fields (Reversed)

This forces PAL swapped Field Processing.
NTSC Fields (Reversed)

This forces NTSC swapped Field Processing.
Auto
This attempts to match the mode of its input images. Fields is used if the input types are mixed.
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Misc Tools
[Run] Misc Tools
Run Command
Description:
The RunCommand tool is used to execute an external command or batch file at certain points during a render. Choose to run a command once at the start, or at the end of a render, or have
the command execute once for each frame.
An image input is not required for this tool to operate. However, if RunCommand is connected to a tool's output, the command will only be launched after that tool has finished rendering.
This is often useful when connected to a Saver, to ensure that the output frame has been fully saved to disk first. If the application launched returns a non 0 result, the tool will also fail.
RunCommand can be used to net render other command line applications using the Fusion render manager, as well as a host of other useful functions.
Controls Tab
Frame Command
The first file browser in the tool is used to specify the path and parameters for the command to be run after
each frame is rendered. Select the Hide checkbox to prevent the application or script from displaying a win-
dow when it is executed.
Hide
Select this checkbox to suppress the display of any window or dialog started by the command.
Wait
Enable this checkbox to cause the tool to Wait for the remote application or tool to exit before continuing. If
this checkbox is cleared, the system will continue rendering without waiting for the external application.
Number A (%B) And Number B (%B)

Various wildcards can be used with the frame commands, these wildcards will be substituted at render time
with the correct values.
%a outputs the number from the Number A thumbwheel control.

%b outputs the number from the Number B thumbwheel control.
%t outputs the current frame number (without zero padding).
%s substituted with the text from the large text entry field.
If you want to add zero padding to the numbers generated by %t, refer to the wildcard with %0x where x is
the number of characters with which to pad the value. This also works for %a and %b.
For example, test%04t.tga would return the following values at render time
test0000.tga
test0001.tga
test0009.tga
test0010.tga
You may also pad a value with spaces by calling the wildcard as %x, where x is the number of spaces with
which you would like to pad the value.
Process Priority
The Process Priority buttons provide options for selecting the priority at which the launched process runs. This
determines how much processor time the launched process receives compared to other applications.
Interactive
This checkbox determines whether the launched application should run interactively, allowing user input.
RunCommand Start and End Tabs
The start and end tabs contain a file browser for a command to be run when the composition starts to render,
and when the composition is done rendering.
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Misc Tools
[Run] Misc Tools
Run Command
Example
To copy the saved files from a render to another directory as each frame is rendered, save the following text in
a file called copyfile.bat to your C\ directory (the root folder).
@echo off
set parm=%1 %2
copy %1 %2
set parm=
Create or load any flow that contains a Saver. The following example assumes a Saver is set to output D\
test0000.tga, test0001.tga etc. You may have to modify the example to match.
Add a RunCommand tool after the Saver, to ensure the Saver has finished saving first. Now enter the following
text into the RunCommand tool's Frame Command text box
C\copytest.bat D\test%04f.tga C\
Select the Hide frame command check box to prevent the command prompt window from appearing briefly
after every frame.
When this flow is rendered, each file will be immediately copied to the C\ directory as it is rendered.
The RunCommand tool could be used to FTP the files to a remote drive or Abekas device on the network, to
print out each frame as it is rendered, or to execute a custom image processing tool.
The RunCommand tool is not restricted to executing simple batch files. eyeonScript, VBScript, Jscript, CGI, and
Perl files could also be used, as just a few examples.
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Misc Tools
[DOD] Misc Tools
Set Domain
Description:
Set Domain is used to adjust or set the active area of an image, or in other words the area of the image considered to have valid data.
It does not change the image's physical dimensions. Anything outside the DoD will not be processed by downstream tools, thus speeding up rendering of computational intensive tools.
This tool provides an absolute mode, for setting the Domain of Definition manually, and a relative mode for adjusting the existing Domain of Definition.
A video tutorial demonstrating the use of Set Domain can also be found on [http//www.youtube.com/watch?v=CtPKm3EFXl4 eyeon Software's YouTube channel.]
Controls Tab / Set Mode

Set Mode defaults to the full extend of the visible image. External Inputs
Left
Defines the left border of the DOD. Higher values on this slider move the left border towards the right, exclu-
ding more data from the left margin.
The slider defaults to 0. (Left Border)
Bottom
Defines the bottom border of the DOD. Higher values on this slider move the bottom border towards the top,
excluding more data from the bottom margin.
1 represents the Top border of the image, 0 represents the bottom border.
The slider defaults to 0. (Bottom Border) SetDomain.Input
[ orange, required ]
Right This input must be connected to
Defines the right border of the DOD. Higher values on this slider move the right border towards the left, exclu- the output of a tool which produ-
ding more data from the right margin. ces a 2D image.
The slider defaults to 1. (Right Border) SetDomain.Foreground
[ green, optional ]
Top This input expects a 2D image as
Defines the top border of the DOD. Higher values on this slider move the top border towards the bottom, it's input. When the foreground
excluding more data from the top margin. input is connected then the Set
1 represents the top border of the image, 0 represents the bottom border. Domain tool will replace the Back-
The slider defaults to 1. (Top Border) ground inputs Domain of Definition
with
the Foreground's.
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Misc Tools
[DOD] Misc Tools
Set Domain
Controls Tab / Adjust Mode
In Adjust Mode basically the same operations can be carried out like in Set Mode.
All Sliders default to 0 though, marking their respective full extend of the image.
Positive values shrink the DOD while negative values expand the DOD to include more data.
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Misc Tools
[TSp] Misc Tools
Time Speed
Description:
Time Speed allows image sequences to be sped up, slowed down, reversed or delayed. Image Interpolation offers smooth, high quality results. Time Speed should be used for static speed
changes, or to introduce delays in the footage. To apply animated changes in time, such accelerating or deccelerating time, use a Time Stretcher instead.
When operating in Flow mode, Optical Flow data is required.

This tool does not generate optical flow directly. You have to create it manually upstream using an OpticalFlow tool or by loading the forward/reverse vector channels from disk.
TimeSpeed does not interpolate the aux channels, but rather destroys them. In particular, the Vector/BackVector channels are consumed and destroyed after computation.
Add an OpticalFlow after the FlowSpeed if you want to generate flow vectors for the retimed footage.
Controls
Speed
This control is used to adjust the Speed, in percentage values, of the outgoing image sequence. Negative
values reverse the image sequence. 200% Speed is represented by a value of 2.0, 100% is 1.0, 50% is 0.5 and
10% is 0.1.
The Speed control cannot be animated.
Delay
Use this control to Delay the outgoing image sequence by the specified number of frames. Negative numbers
will offset time back and positive numbers will advance.
Interpolate Between Frames

When checked, frames before and after the current frame will be Interpolated to create new frames. This usu-
ally offers smoother and cleaner results. When cleared, no interpolation will take place.
Sample Spread
This slider controls the strength of the interpolated frames on the current frame. A value of 0.5 causes 50%
of the frame before and 50% of the frame ahead of the current frame to be blended with 0% of the current
frame.
Depth Ordering
The Depth Ordering is used to determine which parts of the image should be rendered on top. This is best
explained by example.
In a locked off camera shot where a car is moving through the frame, the background does not move, so it will
produce small or slow vectors. The car will produce larger or faster vectors.
The Depth Ordering in this case is Fastest Ontop since the car will draw over the background.
In a shot where the camera pans to follow the car, the background will have faster vectors, and the car will
have slower vectors, so the Depth ordering method would be Slowest Ontop.
Clamp Edges
Under certain circumstances this option can remove the transparent gaps that may appear on the edges of
interpolated frames. Clamp Edges will cause a stretching artifact near the edges of the frame that is especially
visible with objects moving through it or when the camera is moving.
Because of these artifacts it is a good idea to only use clamp edges to correct small gaps around the edges of
an interpolated frame.
Softness
If you have more than one of the source frame and warp direction checkboxes turned on, this can lead to
doubling up of the stretching effect near the edges. In this case youll want to keep the softness rather small
at around 0.01.

This control set allows for the choosing of which frames and which vectors are used to create the inbetween
frames. Each method ticked on will be blended into the result.
Next Forward will take the next frame in the sequenceand use the forward vector to interpolate the new
frame.
Prev Backward will take the previous frame and use the Back forward vector to interpolate the new frame.
Next Backward will take the next frame in the sequence and use theback vector to interpolate the new frame.
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Misc Tools
[TSt] Misc Tools
Time Stretcher
Description:
The Time Stretcher tool is similar to the Time Speed tool, but it permits the speed of the clip to be animated over the course of the effect. Full spline control of the effect is provided, including
smoothing. As a result, the Time Stretcher can be used to animate a single clip to 200, back to normal speed, pause for a second, and then play backwards (like a VCR rewinding).
Image interpolation offers smooth, high quality results all using a spline curve to adjust time non-linearly.
To apply steady time changes such as frame rate changes, use a TimeSpeed instead.
When operating in Flow mode, Optical Flow data is required.

This tool does not generate optical flow directly, you have to create it manually upstream using an OpticalFlow tool or by loading the forward/reverse vector channels from disk.
FlowStretcher does not interpolate the aux channels, but rather destroys them. In particular the Vector/BackVector channels are consumed/destroyed.
Add an OpticalFlow after the FlowStretcher if you want to generate flow vectors for the retimed footage.
Controls Tab
Source Time
This control designates from which frame in the original sequence to begin sampling.
When a Time Stretcher tool is added to the flow, the Source Time control already contains a Bezier spline with
a single keyframe set to 0.0. The position of the keyframe is determined by the current time when the tool is
added to the flow.
(The Source Time spline may not be immediately visible until Edit is selected from the Source Time's context
menu, or display all splines from the spline window's context menu.)
Interpolate Between Frames

This toggles whether the Time Stretcher will interpolate between the next and previous frames.
Sample Spread
This determines the strength of the interpolated frames on the current frame. A value of 0.5 causes 50% of the
frame before and 50% of the frame ahead of the current frame to be blended with 0% of the current frame. A
value of 0.25 would blend 25% of the previous and next frames with 50% of the current frame. Set this control
over 0.25 only in extreme cases.
Clamp Edges
Under certain circumstances this option can remove the transparent gaps that may appear on the edges of
interpolated frames. Clamp Edges will cause a stretching artifact near the edges of the frame that is especially
visible with objects moving through it or when the camera is moving.
Because of these artifacts it is a good idea to only use clamp edges to correct small gaps around the edges of
an interpolated frame.
Softness
If you have more than one of the source frame and warp direction checkboxes turned on, this can lead to
doubling up of the stretching effect near the edges. In this case youll want to keep the softness rather small
at around 0.01.

This control set allows for the choosing of which frames and which vectors are used to create the inbetween
frames. Each method ticked on will be blended into the result.
Prev Forward Will take the previous frame and use the forward vector to interpolate the new frame.
Next Forward Will take thenext frame in sequenceand use the forward vector to interpolate the new frame.
Prev Backward Will take the previous frame and use the Back forward vector to interpolate the new frame.
Next Backward Will take thenext frame in sequence and use theback vector to interpolate the new frame.
Depth Ordering
The Depth ordering is used to determine which parts of the image should be rendered on top. This is best
explained by example.
In a locked off camera shot where a car is moving through the frame, the background does not move, so it will
produce small or slow vectors, the Car will produce larger or faster vectors.
The Depth ordering in this case is Fastest Ontop, since the car will draw over the background.
In a shot where the camera pans to follow the car, the background will have faster vectors, and the car will
have slower vectors, so the Depth ordering method would be Slowest Ontop.
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Misc Tools
[TSt] Misc Tools
Time Stretcher
Example
Make certain that the current time is either the first or last frame of the clip to be affected in the project. Add
the Time Stretcher tool to the flow. This will create a single point on the Source Time spline at the current
frame. The value of the source time will be set to zero for the entire Global Range.
Set the value of the Source time to the frame number to be displayed from the original source, at the frame in
time it is to be displayed in during the project.
To shrink a 100-frame sequence to 25 frames, follow these steps
*Change the Current Time to frame 0.

*Change the Source Time control to 0.0.
*Advance to frame 24.
*Change the Source Time to 99.
*Check that the spline result is linear.
*Fusion will render 25 frames by interpolating down the 100 frames to a length of 25.
*Hold the last frame for 30 frames, then play the clip backward at regular speed. Continue the example from
above and follow the steps below.
*Advance to frame 129.
*Right-click on the Source Time control and select Set Key from the menu.
*Advance to frame 229 (129 + 100).
*Set the Source time to 0.0.
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Paint Tool
Paint

Paint
Paint Tool
Paint
Description:
Paint is an extremely flexible, stroke-based system for making changes directly to a series of images. Use the paint tool for wire and rig removal, image cloning, or to rapidly create custom
masks and mattes.
Fusion's paint can even be used to create new images and artistic elements from scratch.
Each paint tool is made up of a series of brush strokes. These strokes are vector shapes created directly on a view. The type of brush used, the size of the stroke and the affect of the stroke on
the image are all user-controllable. A wide range of apply modes and brush types are available.
Brush strokes can be made into editable polylines for fine control. They can be animated to change shape, length and size over time. The opacity and size of a stroke can be affected by veloci-
ty and pressure (when used with a supported tablet).
Unlimited undo and redo of paint provides the ability to experiment before committing changes to an image sequence. Paint strokes can be re-ordered, deleted and modified with virtually
infinite flexibility.
Controls Tab
Not all of the controls described here appear in all modes. Certain controls are only useful in a specific paint
mode and are hidden when they are not applicable. Additionally, several of the controls are considered to be
self-explanatory the purpose of a center control, angle or size control should be relatively straightforward to
determine.
To reduce complexity, these controls are not all described. For further details on the functionality of the Cont-
rols Tab, please see the Working With Paint Strokes - Animating Strokes section in this chapter.
Color Space
The Color Space array of buttons is only visible when the current mode is set to fill. These are used to select
the color space when sampling colors around the fill center for inclusion in the fill range.
R, G, B And Alpha
When selected, these checkboxes reflect which color channel is being painted. For example, with R, G and B
off and Alpha on, painting will occur on the Alpha channel.
Brush Controls
Brush Shape
Soft Brush
The Soft Brush type is a circular brush with soft edges. Modify the size of the brush in the display view by
holding Ctrl down while dragging the mouse.
Circular Brush
A Circular Brush is a brush shape with hard edges. Resize this brush interactively.
Image Brush
The Image Brush allows images from any tool in the flow, or from a file system, to be used as a brush. See
Creating Custom Brushes later in this chapter.
Single Pixel Brush

The Single Pixel Brush is perfect for fine detail work, creating a brush exactly one pixel in size. No anti-aliasing
is applied to the single pixel brush.
Square Brush
A Square Brush is a brush shape with hard edges.
Vary Size
Constant
The brush will be a constant size over the stroke.
With Pressure
The stroke size will vary with the actual applied pressure.
With Velocity
The stroke size will vary with the speed of painting. The faster the stroke, the thinner it is.
Vary Opacity
Constant
The Constant brush will be a constant transparency over the entire stroke.
With Pressure
The stroke transparency will vary with the applied Pressure.
With Velocity
The stroke transparency will vary with the speed of painting. The faster the stroke, the more transparent it is.
Softness
Use this control to increase or decrease the Softness of a soft brush.
Image Source
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Paint
Paint Tool
Paint
Controls Tab (ctd)

When using the Image Source brush type, select between three possible sources brush images.
Tool
The image source is derived from the output of a tool on the flow. Drag the tool into the source Tool input to
set the source.
Clip
The image source is derived from an image or sequence on disk. Any file supported by Fusion's loader can be
used. Locate the file using the filename Clip browser that appears to set the clip used as a source.
Brush
Images stored in the Fusion>Brushes directory are used as a brush for the paint tool. Select the brush from a
the menu that appears.
Apply Controls
Apply Mode
Color
The Color apply mode paints simple colored strokes on the screen. When used in conjunction with an image
brush, it can also be used to tint the brush.
Clone
The Clone apply mode copies portions of one image into another image, or to clones from the same image
using adjustable positions and time offsets. Any image from the flow can be used as the source image.
Emboss
The Emboss apply mode embosses the portions of the image covered by the brush stroke.
Erase
Erase reveals the underlying image through all other strokes, effectively erasing portions of the strokes be-
neath it with out actually destroying the strokes.
Merge
This apply mode effectively Merges the brush onto the image. This mode behaves in much the same way as
the color apply mode but has no color controls. It is best suited for use with the image brush type.
Smear
Smear the image using the direction and strength of the brush stroke as a guide.
Stamp
Stamp the brush onto the image, completely ignoring any alpha channel or transparency information. This
mode is best suited for applying decals to the target image.
Wire
This Wire removal mode is used to remove wires, rigging and other small elements in the frame by sampling
adjacent pixels and drawing them in toward the stroke.
Stroke Controls
Size
This control adjusts the Size of the brush when the brush type is set to either soft brush or circle. The diameter
of the brush is drawn in the display view as a small circle surrounding the mouse pointer. The size can also be
adjusted interactively in the display view by holding the Ctrl key while click-dragging the mouse pointer.
Spacing
The Spacing slider determines the distance between blats (samples used to draw a straight line along the
underlying vector shape that composes a stroke or polyline stroke). Increasing the value of this slider increases
the density of the stroke, whereas decreasing the value is likely to cause the stroke to assume the appearance
of a dotted line.
Stroke Animation
The Stroke Animation menu control provides several pre-built animation effects that can be applied to a paint
stroke. This menu only appears for Vector strokes.
All Frames
This default displays the stroke for All Frames of the project where a valid target image is available to the paint
tool.
Limited Duration
This exists on the number of frames specified by the Duration slider.
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Paint
Paint Tool
Paint
Controls Tab (ctd)

Write On
When Write On is selected, an animation spline will be added to the paint stroke that precisely duplicates the
timing of the paint stroke's creation. The stroke will be written on the image exactly as it was drawn. To adjust
the timing of the write on effect, switch to the spline editor and use the timestretcher mode to adjust the
overall length of the animation spline. To smooth or manually adjust the motion, try reducing the points in the
animation spline.
Write Off
Write Off will perform the reverse of write on, drawing the stroke starting from the end and working backward
to the start of the stroke.
Write On Then Off

This mode will apply a Write On and then a Write Off animation mode to the stroke.
Trail
Selecting the Trail mode will cause both the start and end points of the stroke to be animated simultaneously,
offset from each other by the amount specified in the duration control. This has the effect of creating a seg-
ment of the stroke that follows the stroke as if it were a path. As with the write on and off effects, this will start
at the frame that is current when the animation mode is selected. The timing of the animation can be adjusted
manually using the spline or timeline editors.
Duration
Duration sets the duration of each stroke in frames. This control is only present for Multistrokes or when the
stroke animation mode is set to Limited Duration. It is most commonly employed for frame-by-frame rotosco-
ping through a scene.
Each Vector stroke applied to a scene will have a duration in the timeline that can be trimmed independently from one stroke
to the next. The duration can be set to 0.5, which will allow each stroke to last for a single field only when the flow is
processing in fields mode.
Write On And Write Off

This range slider appears when the Stroke Animation is set to one of the Write On and Write Off methods. The
range represents the beginning and end points of the stroke. Drag the low value upward to give the impressi-
on that the stroke is being erased, or drag the high value from 0.0 to 1.0 to give the impression that the stroke
is being drawn on the screen. This control can be animated to good effect. It works most effectively when
automatically animated through the use of the Write On, Write Off modes of the stroke animation menu.
Make Editable
This button only appears for Vector strokes.. Clicking on 'Make Editable' turns the current stroke into a polyline
spline so that the shape can be adjusted or animated.

Paint
Paint Tool
Paint
Working with Paint strokes
Stroke Menu
To create a new paint stroke you can select the type of stroke you want from the menu that is displayed in the
view.
Please refer to Paint Stroke Modifiers in the Modifiers chapter for further explanation.
When a paint stroke is selected or edited a menu is displayed in the view to select different editing opions.
Please refer to Working With Polylines for further explanation.
Types of Paint Strokes
Circle
Creates a circular shape with animatable control over radius and center.
Clone Multistroke
Like the multistroke described further below, but specifically meant to clone elements from one image to the
other.
Copy Polyline
A Polyline area with animatable offset to to clone elements from one image to the other.
Copy Rectangle
A rectangular shape area with animatable offset to to clone elements from one image to the other.
Fill
Fills an area of the image based on adjustable color values.
Multistroke
Perfect for those 100-strokes-per-frame retouching paint jobs like removing tracking-markers e.g.
Much faster than the Stroke, but not editable later on.
Paint Group
Allows easy grouping of multiple strokes with full control over center and size.
Polyline Stroke
A fully editable stroke based on animatable Polylines. Can be connected to existing polylines like Masks or
animation Paths.
Rectangle
Creates a rectangular area.
Stroke
The 'standard' Stroke. Fully animatable and editable. Might become slow if hundreds of strokes are used in an
image.
For huge amounts of strokes better use MultiStroke.

Particle Tools
pAvoid pBounce pChangeStyle pCustom pDirectionalForce
pEmitter pFlock pFriction pGradientForce pImageEmitter
pKill pMerge pPointForce pRender pSpawn
pTangentForce pTurbulence pVortex Common Controls p Styles

Particle Tools
[pAv] Top Particle Tools
pAvoid
Description:
The pAvoid tool is used to create a region or area within the image that affected particles will attempt to avoid entering and/or crossing.
It has two primary controls one that determines the distance from the region a particle should be before it begins to move away from the region, and another to determine how strongly the
particle moves away from the region.
A pAvoid tool creates a `desire' in a particle to move away from a specific region. If the velocity of the particle is stronger than the combined distance and strength of the pAvoid region, the
particle's desire to Avoid the region will not overcome its momentum and the particle will cross that region anyway.
Controls Tab
Randomize
Distance
Determines the distance from the region a particle should be before it begins to move away from the region.
Strength
Determines how strongly the particle moves away from the region.
Negative values will make the particles move towards the region instead.
Conditions and Regions Tab

Please see 'Particle Common Controls' in the Particles chapter.
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Particle Tools
[ p B n] Top Particle Tools
pBounce
Description:
The pBounce tool is used to create a region from which affected particles will bounce away when they come into contact with the region. The pBounce tool has three main controls, as descri-
bed below.
Controls Tab
Randomize
Elasticity
Elasticity affects the strength of a bounce, or how much velocity the particle will have remaining after im-
pacting upon the Bounce region. A value of 1.0 will cause the particle to possess the same velocity after the
bounce as it had entering the bounce. A value of 0.1 will cause the particle to lose 90% of its velocity upon
bouncing off of the region.
The range of this control is 0.0 to 1.0 by default, but greater values can be entered manually. This will cause
the particles to gain momentum after an impact, rather than lose it. Negative values will be accepted, but do
not produce a useful result.
Variance
By default, particles that strike the Bounce region will reflect evenly off of the edge of the Bounce region,
according to the vector or angle of the region. Increasing the Variance above 0.0 will introduce a degree of
variation to that angle of reflection. This can be used to simulate the effect of a rougher surface.
Spin
By default, particles that strike the region will not have their angle or orientation affected in any way. Increa-
sing or decreasing the Spin value will cause the Bounce region to impart a spin to the particle based on the
angle of collision, or to modify any existing spin on the particle. Positive values will impart a forward spin and
negative values impart a backward spin. The larger the value, the faster the spin applied to the particle will be.
Roughness
This slider varies the bounce off of the surface to slightly randomize particle direction.
Surface Motion
This slider makes the bounce surface behave is if it had motion, thus affecting the particles.
Surface Motion Direction

This thumbwheel control sets the angle relative to the bounce surface.

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Particle Tools
Top Particle Tools
pChangeStyle
Description:
The pChangeStyle tool provides a mechanism for changing the appearance or style of particles that interact with a defined region. The primary controls in this tool perfectly mirror those
found in the Style tab of the pEmitter tool. Particles that intersect or enter the region defined for this tool will change as described by this tool.
With the possible exception of the pCustom tool, this is the only tool that modifies the appearance of a particle, rather than its motion. It is often used to cause the appearance of particles
changing in response to some event, like striking a barrier.
When using the pChangeStyle tool in this fashion, it would be natural to assume that the tool should be placed after the tool causing the event. As an example, consider the creation of a par-
ticle system that appears to change its style after bouncing off of a pBounce using a line region. In this case, the pChangeStyle tool also uses a line region, positioned identically to the one in
the pBounce tool. Placing the pBounce before the pChangeStyle in the flow causes the particles to bounce off of the region before the pChangeStyle gets an opportunity to calculate its effect
on the particle.
The result is that the particle is no longer intersecting with the pChangeStyle tools region, and so the style never changes.
As a rule, to create a change in style that appears to be caused by a physical event created by another modifier tool in the flow, the pChangeStyle tool must be placed before that tool for the
effect to work properly.
Style Tab
Randomize
Change Sets
This option allows to change the particle's set to become influenced by other forces than the original particle.
Please see 'Particle Common Controls' in the Particles chapter to learn more about sets.
Style
This option allows to change the particle's Style and thus the look.
Please see 'Particle Styles' in the Particles chapter to learn more about styles.


Particle Tools
Top Particle Tools
pCustom
Description:
The pCustom tool is used to create custom expressions that affect the properties of particles. This tool is almost identical to the Custom tool, except that the calculations affect properties of
the particles rather than the properties of a pixel.
General Concept
The following particle properties are exposed to the pCustom control:
px, py, pz particle position on the x, y, and z axis

vx, vy, vz particle velocity on the x, y and z axis
rx, ry, rz particle rotation on the x, y, and z axis
sx, sy, sz particle spin on the x, y, and z axis
pxi1, pyi1 the 2D position of a particle, corrected for image 1's aspect
pxi2, pyi2 the 2D position of a particle, corrected for image 2's aspect
mass not currently used by anything
size The current size of a particle
id The particle's identifier
r, g, b, a The particles Red, Green, Blue and Alpha color values
rgnhit This value is 1 if the particle hit the pCustom tools defined region
rgndist This variable contains the particles distance from the region
condscale The strength of the region at the particle's position
rgnix, rgniy, rgniz Values representing where on the region the particle hit
rgnnx, rgnny, rgnnz region surface normal of the particle when it hit the region
w1, h1 Image 1 width and height
w2 h2 Image 2 width and height
i1, i2, i3, i4 The result of the intermediate calculations 1 through 4
s1, s2, s3, s4 The result of the setup calculations 1 through 4
n1..n8 The values of numeric inputs 1 through 8
p1x, p1y, p1z .. p4x, p4y, p4z The values of position inputs 1 through 4
time The current time or frame of the compositions
age The current age of the particle
lifespan The lifespan of the current particle
Additional information on the custom class of tools can be found in documentation for the Custom tool.
All of the operators, functions and conditional statements described for that tool apply to pCustom as well,
including pixel-read functions for the two image inputs (e.g. getr1w(x,y), getz2b(x,y) etc).


Particle Tools
Top Particle Tools
pDirectionalForce
Description:
This tool applies a uni-directional force that pulls the affected particles in a specified direction. Its primary controls affect the strength of the force, and the angle of the forces pull along the X,
Y and Z axis.
As the most common use of this tool is to simulate gravity, the default direction of the pull is down along the Y Axis (-90 degrees) and the default behavior is to ignore regions and affect all
particles.
Controls Tab
Randomize
Strength
Determines the power of the force.
Positive values will move the Particles in the direction set by the controls, negative values will move the Partic-
les in the opposite direction.
Direction
Determines the direction in X/Y Space.
Direction Z
Determines the direction in Z Space.


Particle Tools
Top Particle Tools
pEmitter
Description:
The pEmitter tool is the main source of particles (pImageEmitter is another) and will usually be the first tool used in any new particle system. This tool contains controls for setting the initial
position, orientation and motion of the particles, as well as controls for the visual style of each particle.
Like all other Particle tools (with the exception of the pRender tool), the pEmitter produces a particle set, not a visible image, and therefore cannot be viewed directly on a display. To view the
output of a particle system, add a pRender tool after the pEmitter.
Controls Tab
This tab contains settings that affect the physics of the particles emitted by the tool. These settings do not directly affect
the appearance of the particles. They modify behavior like velocity, spin, quantity and lifespan instead.
Randomize and Random Seed
The Random Seed slider is used to seed all of the variance and random number generators used by the tool when creating
the particle system. Two pEmitter tools with exactly the same settings for all controls and the same random seed will
generate exactly the same particle system. Changing the random seed will cause variation between the tools. Click on the
Randomize button to automatically set a randomly-chosen value for the Random Seed.
Number
This control is used to set the amount of new particles generated on each frame. A value of 1 would cause one new partic-
le to be generated each frame. By frame 10, there would be a total of 10 particles in existence (unless Particle Lifespan was
set to less than 10).
Animate this parameter to specify the number of particles generated in total. For example, if only 25 particles in total are
desired, animate the control to produce five particles on frame 0-4, then set a key on frame five to generate zero particles
for the remainder of the project.
Number Variance
This modifies the amount of particles generated for each frame, as specified by the Number control. For example, if
Number is set to 10.0 and Number Variance is set to 2.0, the emitter will produce anywhere from 9-11 particles per frame.
If the value of Number Variance is more than twice as large as the value of Number, it is possible that no particles will be
generated for a given frame.
Lifespan
This control determines how long a particle will exist before it disappears or `dies. The default value of this control is 100
frames, although this can be set to any value. The timing of many other particle controls is relative to the Lifespan of the
particle. For example, the size of a particle can be set to increase over the last 80% of its life, using the Size Over Life graph
in the Style tab of the pEmitter.
Lifespan Variance
Like Number Variance, the Lifespan Variance control allows the Lifespan of particles produced to be modified. If Particle
Lifespan were set to 100 frames and the Lifespan Variance to 20 frames, particles generated by the emitter would have a
lifespan of 90-110 frames.
Color Source
This provides the ability to specify from where the color of each particle is derived. The default setting is Use Style Color,
which will provide the color from each particle according to the settings in the Style tab of the pEmitter tool.
The alternate setting is Use Color From Region, which overrides the color settings from the Style tab and uses the color of
the underlying bitmap region.
The Use Color From Region option only makes sense when the pEmitter region is set to use a bitmap produced by ano-
ther tool in the composition. Particles generated in a region other than a bitmap region will be rendered as white when
the Use Color From Region option is selected.
Position Variance
This control determines whether or not particles can be `born outside of the boundaries of the pEmitter region. By default,
the value is set to zero, which will restrict the creation area for new particles to the exact boundaries of the defined region.
Increasing this controls value above 0.0 will allow the particle to be born slightly outside of the boundaries of that region.
The higher the value, the `softer the regions edge will become.


Particle Tools
Top Particle Tools
pEmitter
Velocity and Velocity Variance

These determine the initial speed or velocity of new particles. By default, the particle has no velocity and will not
move from its point of origin unless acted upon by outside forces. A velocity setting of 10.0 would cause the particle
to cross the entire width of the image in one step so a velocity of 1.0 would cause the particle to cross the width of
the image over 10 frames.
Velocity Variance modifies the velocity of each particle at birth, in the same manner described in Lifespan Variance
and Number Variance above.
Angle and Angle Variance

This determines the angle at which particles with velocity applied will be heading at its birth.
Angle Z and Angle Z Variance

This is as above, except this control determines the angle of the particles along the Z space axis (toward or away
from the camera).
Rotation Mode
This menu control provides two options to help determine the orientation of the particles emitted. When the partic-
les are spherical, the effect of this control will be unnoticeable.
Absolute Rotation
The particles will be oriented as specified by the Rotation controls, regardless of velocity and heading.
Rotation Relative To Motion

The particles will be oriented in the same direction as the particle is moving. The Rotation controls can now be used
to rotate the particles orientation away from its heading.
Rotation XYZ and Rotation XYZ Variance

These controls allow for Rotation of the individual particles. This can be particularly useful when dealing with a
bitmap particle type, as the incoming bitmap may not be oriented in the desired direction.
Rotation XYZ Variance can be used to randomly vary the rotation by a specified amount around the center of the
Rotation XYZ value to avoid having every particle oriented in the exact same direction.
Spin XYZ and Spin Variance

These provide a spin to be applied to each particle at birth. The particles will rotate x degrees each frame, as deter-
mined by the value of Spin XYZ.
The Spin XYZ variances will vary the amount of rotation applied to each frame in the manner described by Number
Variance and Lifespan Variance documented above.
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Particle Tools
Top Particle Tools
pEmitter
Sets Tab
This tab contains settings that affect the physics of the particles emitted by the tool. These settings do not
directly affect the appearance of the particles. They modify behavior like velocity, spin, quantity and lifespan
instead.
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Particle Tools
Top Particle Tools
pFlock
Description:
Flocking is a mechanism that can be used to simulate the behavior of organic systems, such as a flock of birds or a colony of ants. Its use can make an otherwise mindless particle system ap-
pear to be motivated, or acting under the direction of intelligence.
The pFlock tool works through two basic principles. Each particle attempts to stay close to other particles and each particle attempts to maintain a minimum distance from other particles. The
strength of these desires produces the seemingly motivated behavior perceived by the viewer.
Controls Tab
Randomize
Flock Number
The value of this control represents the number of other particles that the affected particle will attempt to
follow. The higher the value, the more visible `clumping' will appear to be in the particle system, and the larger
the groups of particles will appear to be.
Follow Strength
This value represents the strength of each particle's desire to follow other particles. Higher values will cause
the particle to appear to expend more energy and effort to follow other particles. Lower values increase the
likelihood that a given particle will break away from the pack.
Attract Strength
This value represents the strength of attraction between particles. When a particle moves farther from other
particles than the Maximum Space defined in the pFlock tool, it will attempt to move closer to other partic-
les. Higher values cause the particle to maintain its spacing energetically, resolving conflicts in spacing more
rapidly.
Repel Strength
This value represents the force applied to particles that get closer together than the distance defined by the
Minimum Space control of the pFlock tool. Higher values will cause particles to move away from neighboring
particles more rapidly, shooting away from the pack.
Minimum/Maximum Space
This range control represents the distance each particle attempts to maintain between it and other particles.
Particles will attempt to get no closer or further than the space defined by the Minimum/Maximum values of
this range control. Smaller ranges will give the appearance of more organized motion. Larger ranges will be
perceived as disorganized and chaotic.


Particle Tools
Top Particle Tools
pFriction
Description:
The pFriction tool applies resistance to the motion of a particle, slowing the particle's motion through a defined region. This tool produces two types of Friction. One type reduces the Velocity
of any particle intersecting/crossing the defined region, and one reduces or eliminates spin and rotation.
Controls Tab
Randomize
Velocity Friction
This value represents the Friction force applied to the particle's Velocity. The larger the value, the greater the
Friction, thus slowing down the particle.
Spin Friction
This value represents the Friction force applied to the particle's rotation or Spin. The larger the value, the grea-
ter the friction, thus slowing down the rotation of the particle.


Particle Tools
Top Particle Tools
pGradientForce
Description:
The Gradient Force control accepts two inputs, one from a particle system and one from a bitmap image. The particles are affected by a force generated by the gradients in the alpha values of
the input image. Particles will accelerate along the gradient, moving from white to black (high values to low).
This tool can be used to give particles the appearance of moving downhill, or of following the contour of a provided shape.
Controls Tab
Randomize
Strength
Gradient Force has only one specific control, it affects the strength of the force and acceleration applied to the
particles. Negative values on this control will cause the Gradient Force to be applied from black to white (low
values to high values).


Particle Tools
Top Particle Tools
pImageEmitter
Description:
The pImageEmitter tool takes an input image and treats each pixel of the image as if it were a particle. The main differences between the pImageEmitter and the normal pEmitter is that
instead of emitting particles randomly within a given region, this tool emits pixels in a regular 2D grid with colors based on the input image.
Note
Controls Tab Pixels with a black (transparent)
alpha channel will still generate
invisible particles, unless you raise
The great majority of controls in this tool are identical to those found in the pEmitter, and those controls are docu- the Alpha Threshold above 0.0. This
mented there. Below are the descriptions of the controls unique to the pImageEmitter tool. can slow down rendering signifi-
X And Y Density cantly.
The X and Y Density sliders are used to set the mapping of particles to pixels for each axis. They control the density An Alpha Threshold value of 1/255
of the sampling grid. A value of 1.0 for either slider indicates 1 sample per pixel. Smaller values will produce a looser, = 0,004 is good for eliminating all
more pointilistic distribution of particles, while values above 1.0 will create multiple particles per pixel in the image. fully-transparent pixels.
Alpha Threshold Note

The Alpha Threshold is used for limiting particle generation so that pixels with semi-transparent alpha values will The pixels are emitted in a fixed-
not produce particles. This can be used to harden the edges of an otherwise soft alpha channel. The higher the size 2D grid on the XY plane, cente-
threshold value, the more opaque a pixel has to be before it will generate a particle. Note that the default threshold red on the Pivot position. Changing
of 0.0 will create particles for every pixel, regardless of alpha, though many may be transparent and invisible. the Region from the default of
All allows you to restrict particle
Lock Particle Color To Initial Frame creation to more limited areas. If
Select this checkbox to force the particles to keep the color with which they were born throughout the life of the you need to change the size of this
particle. If this is off, and the input image changes on successive frames, the particles will also change color to match grid, use a Transform 3D tool after
the image. This allows video playback on a grid of particles. the pRender.
Create Particles Every Frame

Enabling this creates a whole new set of particles every frame, instead of just one set on the frame. This can lead
to very large particle systems, but allows some interesting effects, for example if the particles are given some initial
velocity, or if emitting from an animated source. Try a small velocity, Angle Z of -90 and a seething Fast Noise as a Note
source, to get smoothly-varying clouds of particles that you could fly through. Note that if this checkbox is left off, Remember that the various emitter
only one set of particles is ever created, and thus animating any of the emitter's other controls will have no effect. controls apply only to particles
when they are emitted. That is, they
X/Y/Z Pivot set the initial state of the particle,
These controls allow you to position the grid of emitted particles. and do not affect it for the rest
of its lifespan. Since pImageE-
Use Z Channel For Particle Z mitter (by default) emits particles
If the input image used to generate the particles has a Z depth channel, that channel can be used to determine the only on the first frame, animating
initial position of the particle in Z space. This can have an interesting hollow shell effect when used in conjunction these controls will have no effect.
with camera rotation in the pRender tool. However, if the Create Particles
Every Frame checkbox is turned on,
new particles will be emitted each
frame, and will use the specified
initial settings for that frame.

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pDescription: 316
Particle Tools
Top Particle Tools
pKill
Description:
The Kill tool is used to destroy (kill) any particle that crosses or intersects its region. It has no specific controls, as it has only one possible affect on a particle.
The controls found in the Region tab are normally used to limit this tool, by restricting the effect to particles which fall within a certain region, age, set, or by reducing the probability of the
tool applying to a given particle.
Particle Kill


Particle Tools
Top Particle Tools
pMerge
Description:
This tool has no controls whatsoever. It serves to combine particles from two streams. Any tools downstream of the Particle Merge tool will treat the two streams as one.
The combined particles will preserve any sets assigned to them when they were created, making it possible for tools downstream of the pMerge to isolate specific particles when necessary.
Particle Merge

Particle Tools
Top Particle Tools
pPointForce
Description:
This tool applies a force to the particles that emanates from a single point in 3D space. The pPointForce can either attract or repel particles within its sphere of influence. There are four con-
trols specific to the pPointForce tool.
Controls Tab
Randomize
Strength
This parameter sets the Strength of the force emitted by the tool. Positive values represent attractive forces.
Negative values represent repellent forces.
Power
This determines the degree to which the Strength of the force falls off over distance. A value of zero causes
there to be no falloff of strength. Higher values will impose an ever-sharper falloff in strength of the force with
distance.
Limit Force
The Limit Force control is used to counter-balance potential problems with temporal sub-sampling. Because
the position of a particle is only sampled once a frame (unless sub-sampling is increased in the pRender tool),
it is possible that a particle can overshoot the Point Force's position and end up getting thrown off in the
opposite direction. Increasing the value of this control reduces the likelihood that this will happen.
X, Y, Z Center Position
These controls are used to represent the X, Y, and Z coordinates of the point force in 3D space.


Particle Tools
[pRn] Top Particle Tools
pRender
Description:
The pRender tool converts the particle system to either an image or geometry. The default is a 3D particle system, which must be connected to a Renderer 3D to produce an image. This allows
the particles to be integrated with other elements in a 3D scene before they are rendered.
Controls Tab
Output Mode (2D / 3D)
While the pRender defaults to 3D output, it can be made to directly render a 2D image instead, as with DF4.
This is done with the 3D and 2D buttons on the Output Mode control.
If the pRender is not connected to a 3D -only or 2D -only tool, you can also switch it by selecting View>2D
Viewer from the display view's context menu.
In 3D mode the only controls in the pRender tool that have any affect at all are Restart, Pre-roll and Automa-
tic Pre-Roll, Sub-Frame Calculation Accuracy and Pre-Generate frames.
The remaining controls affect 2D particle renders only.
The pRender tool also has a Camera input on the flow that allows connection of a 3D}} /Camera 3D |Camera
3D tool.
This can be used in both 2D and 3D modes to allow control of the viewpoint used to render an output
image.
Render And The Display Views

When the pRender tool is selected in a flow, all of the onscreen controls from particle tools connected to it
are presented in the display views. This provides a fast, easy-to-modify overview of the forces applied to the
particle system as a whole.
Pre-Roll Options
Particle tools generally need to know the position of each particle on the last frame before they can calculate
the affect of the forces applied to them on the current frame. This makes changing current time manually by
anything but single frame intervals likely to produce an inaccurate image.
The controls here are used to help accommodate this by providing methods of calculating the intervening
frames.
Restart
This control also works in 3D. Clicking on the Restart button will restart the particle system at the current
frame, removing any particles created up to that point and starting the particle system from scratch at the
current frame.
Pre-Roll
This control also works in 3D. Clicking on this button will cause the particle system to recalculate, starting from
the beginning of the render range up to the current frame. It will not render the image produced. It will only
calculate the position of each particle. This provides a relatively quick mechanism to ensure that the particles
displayed in the views are correctly positioned.
If the pRender tool is displayed when the Pre-Roll button is selected, the progress of the pre-roll is shown in
the display view, with each particle shown as point style only.
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Particle Tools
pRender
Automatic Pre-Roll
Selecting the Automatic Pre-Roll checkbox causes the particle system to automatically pre-roll the particles to
the current frame whenever the current frame changes. This prevents the need to manually select the Pre-Roll
button whenever advancing through time in jumps larger than a single frame. The progress of the particle
system during an Automatic Pre-Roll is not displayed to the views, to prevent distracting visual disruptions.
About Pre-Roll
Pre-Roll is necessary because the state of a particle system is completely dependent on the last known positi-
on of the particles. If the current time were changed to a frame where the last frame particle state is unknown,
the display of the particle is calculated on the last known position, producing inaccurate results.
To demonstrate, add a pEmitter and pRender tool to the composition. View the pEmitter in one of the display
views. Right-click in the display view and select Views>2D Viewer from the context menu.
Set the Velocity of the particles to 0.1. Place the pEmitter on the left edge of the screen and set the Current
Frame to 0. Set a Render Range from 0-100 and press the Play button. Observe how the particle system beha-
ves.
Stop the playback and return the current time to frame 0. Make sure that the Automatic Pre-Roll option is off
in the pRender tool. Now try jumping from frame 0 to 10, then to frame 60 and 90. Do not pass through the
frames in between. Use the current time edit control or click in the ruler directly to jump straight to the frame.
See how the particle system only adds to the particles it has already created and does not try to create the
particles that would have been emitted in the intervening frames. Try selecting the Pre-Roll button in the Pre-
Render tool. Now the particle system state is represented correctly.
For simple, fast rendering particle systems, it is recommended to leave the Automatic Pre-Roll option on. For
slower particle systems with long time ranges, it may be desirable to only Pre-Roll manually, as required.
Only Render In Hi-Q

Selecting this checkbox causes the style of the particles to be over-ridden when the Hi-Q checkbox is de-
selected, producing only fast rendering Point style particles. This is useful when working with a large quantity
of slow image-based or blob-style particles. To see the particles as they would appear in a final render, simply
enable the Hi-Q checkbox.
View
This drop-down list provides options to determine the position of the camera view in a 3D particle system.
The default option of Scene (Perspective) will render the particle system from the perspective of a virtual
camera, the position of which can be modified using the controls in the Scene tab. The other options provide
orthographic views of the front, top and side of the particle system.
It is important to realize that the position of the onscreen controls for particle tools is unaffected by this
control. In 2D mode the onscreen controls are always drawn as if the display view were showing the front
orthographic view. (3D mode gets the position of controls right at all times.)
The View setting is ignored if a Camera 3D tool is connected to the pRender tool's Camera input on the Flow,
or if the pRender is in 3D mode.
Output Mode
Blur, Glow And Blur Blend

These sliders applies a Gaussian blur, glows and blur blending to the image as it is rendered, which can be
used to soften the particles and blend them together. The end result is no different than adding a Blur after
the pRender tool in the flow. 2D particles only.
Sub Frame Calculation Accuracy

This determines the number of sub-samples taken between frames when calculating the particle system. Hig-
her values will increase the accuracy of the calculation but also increase the amount of time taken to render
the particle system.
Pre-Generate Frames
This control is used to cause the particle system to pre-generate a set number of frames before its first valid
frame. This is used to give a particle system an initial state from which to start.
A good example of when this might be useful is in a shot where particles are used to create the smoke rising
from a chimney. Pre-Generate Frames would be set to a number high enough to ensure that the smoke is
already present in the scene before the render begins, rather than having it just starting to emerge from the
emitter for the first few frames.
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Particle Tools
pRender
Kill Particles That Leave The View

Selecting this checkbox control will automatically destroy any particles that leave the visible boundaries of the
image. This can help to speed render times. Particles destroyed in this fashion will never return, regardless of
any external forces acting upon them.
Generate Z Buffer
Selecting this checkbox will cause the pRender tool to produce a Z Buffer channel in the image. The depth of
each particle is represented in the Z Buffer. This channel can then be used for additional depth operations like
Depth Blur, Depth Fog, and Downstream Z Merging.
Enabling this option is likely to increase the render times for the particle system dramatically.
Depth Merge Particles

Enabling this option will cause the particles to be merged together using Depth Merge techniques, rather
than layer-based techniques.

Particle Tools
pRender
Scene Tab
Z Clip
The Z Clip control is used to set a clipping plane in front of the camera. Particles that cross this plane are clip-
ped, preventing them from impacting on the virtual lens of the camera and dominating the scene.

Particle Tools
pRender
Grid Tab
None of the controls in this tab have any effect on 3D particles.
The Grid is a helpful, non-rendering display guide used to orient the 2D particles in 3D space. The grid is
never seen in renders, just like a center crosshair is never seen in a render.
The width, depth, number of lines and grid color can be set using the controls found in this tab. These cont-
rols cannot be animated.
Image Tab
The controls in the Image tab of this tool determine the width, height and aspect of the image. Refer to the
Creator Common Controls page for details on the use of these controls.
Motion Blur
As with other 2D tools in Fusion, motion blur is enabled from within the Fusion tab. You may set Quality, Shut-
ter Angle, Sample Centre and Bias, and blur will be applied to all moving particles.
Note motion blur on 3D mode particles (rendered with a Renderer 3D) also requires that identical motion blur
settings are applied to the Renderer 3D tool.

Particle Tools
[pSp] Top Particle Tools
pSpawn
Description:
The pSpawn tool makes each affected particle act as an emitter that can produce one or more particles of its own. The original particle continues until the end of its own lifespan, and each of
the particles it emits becomes wholly independent with a lifespan and properties of its own.
As long as a particle falls under the effect of the pSpawn tool, it will continue to generate particles. It is important to restrict the effect of the tool with limiters like Start And End Age, Probabi-
lity, Sets and Regions, and by animating the parameters of the emitter so that the tool is operative only when required.
Controls Tab
The pSpawn tool has a large number of controls, most of which exactly duplicate those found within the pE-
mitter tool. There are a few controls that are unique to the pSpawn tool, and their effects are described below.
Affect Spawned Particles
Selecting this checkbox causes particles created by spawning to also become affected by the Spawn tool on
subsequent frames. This can exponentially increase the number of particles in the system, driving render times
up to an unreasonable degree. Use this checkbox cautiously.
Velocity Transfer
This control determines how much velocity of the source particle is transferred to the particles it spawns. The
default value of 1.0 causes each new particle to adopt 100 percent of the velocity and direction from its source
particle. Lower values will transfer less of the original motion to the new particle.

Please see Particle Common Controls in the Particles chapter.
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Particle Tools
[pStyle] Particle Tools
pStyles
Description:
The Styles tab occurs in the Particle Emitter, Particle Spawn, Particle ChangeStyle and Particle Image Emitter. In the Style tab the type and look of the particles is determined.
Style Tab
The Style tab provides controls that affect the appearance of the particles, allowing the look and feel of the
particles to be determined and animated over time.
Style Type
The Style Menu control provides access to the various types of particles supported by the Particle Suite. Each
style has its own specific controls, as well as controls it will share with other styles.
Point Style
This option produces particles exactly one pixel in size. Controls that are specific to Point Style are Apply
Mode and Sub Pixel Rendered.
Bitmap Style and Brush Style

Both the Bitmap and Brush Styles produce particles based on an image file. The Bitmap Style relies on the
image from another tool in the Flow and the Brush Style uses image files in the brushes directory. They both
have numerous controls for affecting their appearance and animation, described below.
Blob Style
This option produces large, soft spherical particles, with controls for Color, Size, Fade timing, Merge method
and Noise.
Coopers Style
This style produces particles composed of bottle caps from the Coopers brand of beer (the best beer in Aus-
tralia, and quite possibly the world. To dispute our choice please send samples of the superior brew to eyeon
Software, c\o the Product Manager).
Line Style
This style produces straight line-type particles with optional 'falloff'. The Size To Velocity control described
below (under Size Controls) is often useful with this Line type. The Fade control adjusts the amount of falloff
over the length of the line.
Point Cluster Style

This style produces small clusters of single pixel particles. Point Clusters are similar to the Point style, however
they are more efficient when a large quantity of particles is required. This style shares controls with the Point
style. Additional controls specific to Point Cluster style are Number of Points and Number Variance.
Color
This standard Color Control selects the color and alpha values of the particles generated by the emitter.
Color Variance
These range controls provide a means of expanding the colors produced by the pEmitter. Setting the Red
variance range at -0.2 to +0.2 will produce colors that vary 20% on either side of the red channel, for a total
variance of 40%. If the pEmitter is set to produce R0.5, G0.5, B0.5 (pure grey), the variance shown above will
produce points with a color range between R0.3, G0.5, B0.5 and R0.7, G0.5, B0.5.
To visualize color space as values between 0-256 or as 0-65535, change the values used by Fusion using the
Show Color As option provided in the General tab within the Preferences dialog.
Lock Color Variance

This checkbox locks the color variance of the particles. Unlocking this allows the color variance to be applied
differently to each color channel, giving rise to a wider range of colors.
Color Over Life

This standard gradient control allows for the selection of a range of color values to which the particle will
adhere over its lifetime.
The left point of the gradient represents the particle color at birth. The right point shows the color of the
particle at the end of its lifespan.
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Particle Tools
pStyles
Style Tab
Additional points can be added to the gradient control to cause the particle color to shift throughout its life.
This type of control can be extremely useful for fire-type effects (for example, the flame may start out blue,
turn orange and end a darker red). The gradient itself can be animated over time by right-clicking on the
control and selecting Animate from the context menu. All points on the gradient will be controlled by a single
Color Over Life spline, which controls the speed at which the gradient itself changes. You may also use the
From Image modifier, which produces a gradient from the range of colors in an image along a line between
two points.
Size Controls
The majority of the Size Controls are self-explanatory. The Size and Size Variance controls are used to determi-
ne the size and degree of size variation for each particle. It is worth noting that the Point style does not have
size controls (each point is a single pixel in size and there is no additional control).
When a Bitmap Particle style is used, a value of 1.0 indicates that each particle should be exactly the same
size as the input bitmap. A value of 2.0 will scale the particle up in size by 200%. For the best quality particles,
always try to make the input bitmap as big, or bigger, than the largest particle produced by the system.
For the Point Cluster style, the size control adjusts the density of the cluster, or how close together each par-
ticle will get.
There are additional size controls that can be used to further adjust the size of particles based on velocity and
depth.
Size To Velocity
This increases the size of each particle relative to the Velocity or speed of the particle. The velocity of the par-
ticle is added to the size, scaled by the value of this control.
1.0 on this control, such as for a particle travelling at 0.1, will add another 0.1 to the size (velocity * sizetovelo-
city + size = newsize). This is most useful for Line styles, but the control can be used to adjust the size of any
style.
Size Z Scale
This control measures the degree to which the size of each particle is increased or decreased according to its
depth (position in Z space). The effect is to exaggerate or reduce the impact of perspective. The default value
is 1.0, which provides a relatively realistic perspective effect.
Objects on the focal plane (Z = 0.0) will be actual-sized. Objects farther along Z will become smaller. Objects
closer along Z will get larger.
A value of 2.0 will exaggerate the effect dramatically, whereas a value of 0.0 will cancel the effects of perspec-
tive entirely.
Size Over Life

This LUT spline control determines the size of a particle throughout its lifespan. The vertical scale represents a
percentage of the value defined by the Size control, from 0 to 200%. The horizontal scale represents a percen-
tage of the particle's lifespan (0 to 100%).
This graph supports all of the features available to a standard LUT editor. These features can be accessed by
right-clicking on the graph. It is also possible to view and edit the graph spline in the larger Spline view.
Fade Controls
This simple range slider provides a mechanism for fading a particle at the start and end of its lifetime. Increa-
sing the Fade In value will cause the particle to fade in at the start of its life. Decreasing the Fade Out value will
cause the particle to fade out at the end of its life.
This control's values represent a percentage of the particle's overall life, therefore, setting the Fade In to 0.1
would cause the particle to fade in over the first 10% of its total lifespan. For example, a particle with a life of
100 frames would fade in from frame 0..10.
Merge Controls
This set of particle controls affects the way individual particles are merged together. The Subtractive/Additive
slider works exactly as documented in the standard Merge tool. The Burn-In control will cause the particles to
overexpose, or `blow out', when they are combined together.
None of the Merge controls will have any effect on a 3D particle system.
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Particle Tools
pStyles
Style Tab
Blur Controls
This set of particle controls can be used to apply a Blur to the individual particles. Blurring can be applied
globally, by age, or by Z depth position.
None of the Blur controls will have any effect on a 3D particle system.
Blur And Blur Variance

These controls apply Blur to each particle. Unlike the Blur in the pRender tool, this is applied to each particle
independently before the particles are merged together. The Blur Variance slider modifies the amount of blur
applied to each particle.
Blur Over Life

This spline graph controls the amount of Blur that is applied to the particle over its life. The vertical scale
represents a percentage of the value defined by the Blur control. The horizontal scale represents a percentage
of the particle's lifespan.
This graph supports all of the features available to a standard LUT editor. These features can be accessed by
right-clicking on the graph. It is also possible to view and edit the graph spline in the larger Spline view.
Z Blur (DoF) And DoF Focus

This slider control applies blur to each particle based on its position along the Z axis.
The DoF Focus range control is used to determine what area of the image remains in focus. Lower values
along Z are closer to the camera. Higher values are farther away. Particles within the range will remain in fo-
cus. Particles outside that range will have the blur defined by the Z Blur control applied to them.
Apply Mode
This control only applies to 2D particles. 3D particle systems are not affected.
Add
Overlapping particles are combined by adding the color values of each particle together.
Merge
Overlapping particles are merged together.
Style Bitmap
(Bitmap Style Only) This control appears when the Bitmap style is selected, along with an orange Style Bitmap
input on the tool's icon in the Flow view. Connect a 2D tool to this input to provide images to be used for the
particles. You can do this on the Flow view, or you may drag and drop the image source tool onto the Style
Bitmap control from the Flow or Timeline, or right-click on the control and select the desired source from the
Connect To menu.
Brush
(Brush Style Only)This drop-down list shows the names of any image files stored in the Brushes directory. The
location of the Brushes directory is defined in the Preferences dialog, under Path Maps. The default is the Bru-
shes subdirectory within Fusion's install folder. If no images are in this directory, the only option in the menu
will be None, and no particles will be rendered.
Animate
(Bitmap Style Only) This list determines how the animation of the bitmap source is applied to newly-created
particles. It can be hard to visualize the impact of this control until it has been experimented with. A good way
to experiment is to load the flow in the Fusion>Examples directory called pTextParticleAge.comp and try out
the three settings. View the Text tool in the display view and the pRender tool another view, then step through
the frames using the [ and ] keys.
Over Time
All particles use the image produced by the Style Bitmap tool at the current time, and change to each succes-
sive image together in step, as time increases. A particle created at frame 1 will contain the image at frame
1 of the Style Bitmap. At frame 2, the original particle will use the image from frame 2, and so will any new
particles. All created particles will share exactly the same bitmap image from their source at all times.
Particle Age
Each particle animates through the sequence of images provided by the Style Bitmap tool, independently of
other particles. In other words, an individual particle's appearance is taken from the Style Bitmap tool at suc-
cessive times, indexed by its age.
Particle Birth Time

New particles take the image from the Style Bitmap tool at the current time and keep it unchanged until the
end of the particle's lifespan. Thus, particles generated on a given frame will all have the same appearance,
and will stay that way.

Particle Tools
pStyles
Style Tab
Time Offset
(Bitmap Style Only) This control allows the bitmap source frame to be Offset in time from the current frame.
Time Scale
(Bitmap Style Only) This control can be used to scale the time range of the source bitmap images by a speci-
fied amount. For example, a scale of 2 will cause the particle created at frame 1 to be read from the bitmap
source at frame 2.
Gain
(Bitmap and Brush Style Only) This control is used to apply a correction to the overall Gain of the image that is
used as the bitmap. Higher values produce a brighter image, whereas lower values reduce both the brightness
and the transparency of the image.
Noise
(Blob Style Only) Increasing this control's value will introduce grain-type noise to the blobby particle.
Fade
(Line Style Only) The Fade control adjusts the falloff over the line particle's length. The default value of 1.0
causes the line to fade out completely by the end of the length.
Sub Pixel Rendered

(Point and Point Cluster Style Only) This checkbox determines if the point particles are rendered with Sub Pixel
precision, which provides smoother looking motion but blurrier particles that take slightly longer to render.
Number Of Points And Variance

(Point Cluster Style Only) The value of this control determines how many points are in each Point Cluster.

Particle Tools
[pTF] Top Particle Tools
pTangentForce
Description:
This tool is used to apply a tangential force to the particles, a force that is applied perpendicularly to the vector between the pTangentForce's region and the particle it is affecting.
The controls for this tool are used to position the offset in 3D space and to determine the strength of the tangential force along each axis independently.
Controls Tab
Randomize
X, Y, Z Center Position
These controls are used to represent the X, Y, and Z coordinates of the Tangent force in 3D space.
X, Y, Z Center Strength
These controls are used to determine the strength of the Tangent force in 3D space.

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Particle Tools
[pTr] Top Particle Tools
pTurbulence
Description:
The pTurbulence tool imposes a frequency-based chaos on the position of each particle, causing the motion to become unpredictable and uneven. The controls for this tool affect the strength
and density of the Turbulence along each axis.
Controls Tab
Randomize
X, Y and Z Strength
The strength control affects the amount of chaotic motion imparted to particles.
Strength Over Life

This LUT control can be used to control the amount of turbulence applied to a particle according to its age.
For example, a fire particle may originally have very little turbulence applied at the start of its life, and as it
ages, the turbulence increases.
Density
Use this control to adjust the density of the turbulence. Higher values will produce finer variations in the tur-
bulence produced.

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Particle Tools
[pVt] Top Particle Tools
pVortex
Description:
The pVortex tool applies a rotational force to each particle, causing them to be drawn toward the source of the Vortex. In addition to the Common Particle Controls, the pVortex tool also has
the following controls.
Controls Tab
Randomize
Strength
This control determines the Strength of the Vortex Force applied to each particle.
Power
This control determines the degree to which the strength of the Vortex Force falls off with distance.
X, Y, and Z Offset
Use these sliders to set the amount by which the vortex offsets the affected particles.
Size
Used to set the size of the vortex force.
Angle X And Y
These sliders control the amount of rotational force applied by the Vortex along the X and Y axis.

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Particle Tools
[pCC] Particle Tools
Particle
Common Controls
Description:
The Common Controls can be found in every Particle tool inside Fusion.
Conditions Tab
Probability
This control determines the Probability or percentage chance that the tool will affect any given particle.
The default value of 1.0 will affect all particles. A setting of 0.6 would mean that each particle has a 60 percent
chance of being affected by the control.
Probability is calculated for each particle on each frame. For example, a particle that is not affected by a force
on one frame has the same chance of being affected on the next frame.
Start / End Age

This range control can be used to restrict the effect of the tool to a specified percentage of the particle
lifespan.
For example, to restrict the affect of a tool to the last 20 percent of a particle's life, set the start value to 0.8
and the end value remains at 1.0. The tool on frames 80 through 100 only affect a particle with a lifespan of
100 frames.
Set Mode And Sets

This menu control determines if the particle tool's effect will be applied to all particles, limited only to particles
from a specified set(s), or applied to all particles except the selected set(s).
Sets are assigned by the tools that create particles the pEmitter, pImage Emitter, the pChangeStyle and the
pSpawn tools.
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Particle Tools
Particle
Common Controls
Regions Tab
Region
Regions are used to restrict the tool's effect to a geometric region or plane, and to determine the area where
particles are created in a pEmitter tool. There are seven types of regions, each with its own controls.
All
In 2D, the Particles will be created anywhere within the boundaries of the image. In 3D, this region describes a
cube 1.0 x 1.0 x 1.0 units in size.
Bezier
Bezier mode uses a user-created polyline to determine the region where particles are created. The Bezier
mode works in both 2D and 3D modes, however the Bezier polyline region can only be created in 2D.
To animate the shape of the polyline over time or to connect this polyline to another polyline, right-click on
the Polyline label at the bottom of the control and select the appropriate option from the context menu.
Bitmap
A Bitmap source from one of the other tools in the composition will be used as the region where particles are
born.
Cube
A full 3D Cube is used to determine the region within which particles are created. The height, width, depth
and XYZ positions can all be determined by the user and animated over time.
Line
A simple Line control determines where particles are created. The Line is composed of two end-points, which
can be connected to Paths or Trackers, as necessary. As with Bezier, this region type works in 3D but the line
itself can only be created and adjusted in 2D.
Mesh
Any 3D Mesh can be used as a region since Fusion 6.1. In Mesh mode the region can also be restricted by the
Object ID using the ObjectID slider. See below for a deeper explanation of how mesh regions work.
Rectangle
The Rectangle region type is like the Cube type, except that this region has no depth in Z space. Unlike other
2D emitter regions, this region can be positioned and rotated in Z space.
Sphere (3D)
This is a spherical 3D emitter region with size and center Z controls. Sphere (3D) is the default region type for
a new pEmitter tool.
Start / End X,Y,Z offset

(Line mode only) These controls define the Start and End point of the line in 3D Space.
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Particle Tools
Particle
Common Controls
Mesh Regions
Region Type
The Region Type control allows the artist to choose whether the region will include the inner volume,
or just the surface. For example, when a mesh region is used with a pEmitter, this control would
determine whether the particles are emitted from the surface or the full volume.
Winding Rule and Winding Ray Direction

The Winding Rule and Winding Ray Direction controls determine how the mesh region will handle
particle creation with meshes which are not completely closed, as is common in many meshes imported
from external applications. This scenario is common with imported mesh geometry, and even geometry
which appears closed will frequently appear to 'leak' thanks to improperly welded vertices.
To determine if a particle is in the interior of an object a ray is cast from infinity through that particle
and then out to -infinity. The Winding Ray Direction determines which direction this ray is cast in.
Each time a surface is pierced by the ray it is recorded and added onto a total to generate a winding
number. Going against a surfaces normal counts as +1 and going with the normal counts as -1.
The Winding Rule is then used determine what is inside/outside. For example, setting the Winding Rule
to Odd means that only particles with odd values for the winding number are kept when creating the
particles.
The exact same approach is used to ensure that polylines which intersect themselves are closed
properly.
For example, the following flow and image shows two image planes being used as a mesh region for
particle creation.
By setting the regions Winding Ray Direction to the Z (blue) axis this mesh can then be treated as a
closed volume for purposes of particle creation, as pictured below.

Particle Tools
Particle
Common Controls
Mesh Regions
Limit By ObjectID, ObjectID

Selecting this check-box allows the artist to use the slider found below the check-box to filter the scene
geometry so that only geometry with a matching ObjectID property is used as part of the region.
This menu control determines if the particle tool's effect will be applied to all particles, limited only to particles from a
specified set(s), or applied to all particles except the selected set(s).
Sets are assigned by the tools that actually create particles. These are the pEmitter, pImage Emitter, the pChangeStyle
and the pSpawn tools.

Position Tools
Volume Fog Volume Mask Z to World WPP Concept

Position Tools
[VlF] Position Tools
Volume Fog
Description:
The Volume Fog tool is used to create sophisticated volumetric fog on images containing XYZ Position channels.
As opposed to 3D-rendered volumetric Fog it works on 2D images and delivers much faster results and interactive feedback when setting up the fog.
See the Position Pass Concepts page for further explanation on how this technology works and to learn about the required imagery.
Shape Tab
External Inputs
Shape
Toggle between a basic spherical or rectangular volume to be placed in your image.
These Volumes can then be further refined by means of the MaskImage or MaskImage sequence.
Translation Pick
Left-Click and hold on this button allows dragging to pick XYZ-Coordinates from any 3D Scene or 2D image
containing XYZ values, such as a rendered worldpass, to position the center of the Volume object.
When picking from a 2D image, make sure it's rendered in 32bit float to get full precision.
The following inputs appear on
X, Y, Z Offset the tool's tile in the Flow Editor.
These controls can be used to position the center of the fog volume manually or can be animated or connec-
VolumeFog.Image
ted to other controls in Fusion.
[ orange, required ]
This input expects an image con-
Rotation Pick taining a World Position Pass in
Left-Click and hold on this button allows to pick rotational values from any 3D Scene or 2D image containing the XYZ Position Channels.
those values like a XYZ-Normal-Pass to re-orient the volume.
When picking from a 2D image like an XYZ-Normal-pass, make sure it's rendered in 32bit float to get full pre- VolumeFog.FogImage
cision and accurate rotational values. [ green, optional ]
For creating volumetric fog with
X, Y, Z Rotation varying depth and extent, an
image sequence can be connec-
Use these controls to rotate the Volume around its center.
ted here.
X, Y, Z Scale VolumeFog.EffectMask
Scale the Volume in any direction from its center to further refine the overall Size value specified below. [ blue, optional ]
The standard Effect Mask input as
Size found on other Fusion tools.
The overall size of the volume created.
VolumeFog.SceneInput
[ pink, optional ]
Soft Edge
This input expects a 3D scene
Controls how much the Volume is faded towards the center from its perimeter to achieve a softer look.
containing a 3D Camera.
Use OpenCL
the CPU.
Depending on the graphics card used in the computer this can boost the speed of the tool by a factor of 30
and more.
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Position Tools
Volume Fog
Color Tab
Samples
Determines how many times a "ray" shot into the volume will be evaluated before the final image is created.
Not unlike raytracing, higher values lead to more detail inside the volume but also increase render times.
Z Slices
The higher this value the more images from the connected MaskImage sequence will be used to form the
depth of the Volume.
You can e.g. use a FastNoise with a high Seethe Rate to create such a sequence of images.
Be careful with the resolution of the images though. Higher resolutions can require a large amount of memo-
ry.
As a rule of thumb, a resolution of 256 x 256 pixels with 256 Z Slices (i.e. forming a 256 x 256 x 256 cubic volu-
me, which will use up to 256MB for full colour 32bit float data) should give you a good starting point.
First Slice Time

Determines which frame of the Global Range is used to deliver the first slice from the connected MaskImage
sequence.
Make sure that that both GlobalIn and GlobalOut as well as the valid range of your source tool fall within the
range of FirstSliceTime + Z Slices.
Color
Allows you to modify the color of the Fog generated. This will multiply over any color provided by the connec-
ted MaskImage.
Gain
Increases or decreases intensity of the Fog created. More Gain will lead to a stronger Glow and less transpa-
rency in the Fog.
Lower values let the fog appear less dense.
Subtractive / Additive Slider

Similar to the Merge tool this value controls if the Fog is composed onto the image in additive or subtractive
mode,
leading to brighter or dimmer appearance of the fog.
Fog Only
Outputs the generated fog on a black background which then can be composited manually, or used as a mask
on a Color Corrector for further refinement.
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Position Tools
Volume Fog
Camera Tab
For a perfect evaluation of a Volume, a Camera or 3D Scene can be connected to the Scene input of the tool.
Camera
If multiple Cameras are available in the connected Scene Input, this dropdown allows to choose the correct
Camera needed to evaluate the Volume.
Instead of connecting a Camera, position values can be provided manually or by connecting the XYZ values to
other controls.
Translation Pick
Left-Click and hold on this button allows to pick XYZ-Coordinates from any 3D Scene or 2D image containing
XYZ values like a rendered worldpass to define the center of the Camera.
When picking from a 2D image, make sure it's rendered in 32bit float to get full precision.
X, Y, Z Offset
These controls can be used to define the center of the Camera manually or can be animated or connected to
other controls in Fusion.

Position Tools
Volume Fog
Light Tab
To utilize this feature you need to have actual lights in your 3DScene.
Connect that scene, including Camera and Lights, to the 3D input of the tool.
Do Lighting
Enables or disable lighting calculations.
Keep in mind that when not using OpenCL, i.e. rendering on the CPU, these calculations may become a bit
slow.
Do In-Scattering
Enables or disables light scattering calculations. The volume will still be lit according to the state of the Do
Lighting checkbox, but scattering will not be performed.
Light Samples
Determines how accurate the lighting is calculated.
Higher values mean more accurate calculation at the expense of higher render times.
Density
This is similar to Scattering in that it makes the fog to appear thicker. With a high amount of scattering
though, the light will be scattered out of the volume before it has had much chance to travel through the
fog, meaning it wont pick up the transmission colour a lot. With a high density instead, the fog still appears
thicker, but the light gets a chance to be transmitted, thus picking up the transmission colour before it gets
scattered out. Scattering is affected by the light direction when Asymmetry is not 0.0. Density is not affected
by light direction at all.
Scattering
Determines how much of the light bouncing around in the volume ends up scattering the light out of the
fog. If the light scatters more, or more accurately, then theres a higher probability of the light being scattered
out of the volume, hence less light is left to continue on through the fog. This option can make the fog seem
denser.
Asymmetry
Determines in what direction the light is scattered. A value of 0 produces uniform or isotropic scattering,
meaning all directions have equal probability. A value greater than 0, causes forward scattering, meaning the
light is scattered more into the direction of the light rays. This is similar to what happens with water droplets
in clouds. A value smaller than 0 produces back scattering, where the light is more scattered back towards
the original light source.
Transmission
Defines the colour that is transmitted through the fog. Light that doesnt get scattered out, will tend towards
this colour. It is a multiplier though, so if you have red light, but blue transmission, you wont see any blue.
Reflection
Changes the intensity of the light that is scattered out. It can be used to modify the overall color before Emis-
sion is added. This will be combined with the color channels of the volume texture, and then used to scale
the values. The color options and the color channels of the volume texture are multiplied together, so if the
volume texture was red, setting the Reflection color options to blue would not make the result blue. In such a
case they will multiply together to produce black
Emission
This adds a bit of glowing to the fog, or adding energy/light back into the calculation. In fact, if there are
no lights in the scene, and the fog emission is set to be 1.0, the results are similar to no lighting, like turning
off the Do Lighting option. Glowing can also be done while producing a different kind of look, by having a
Transmission greater than 1. This however would never actually happen in the real world.

Position Tools
Volume Fog
Examples
In these examples we are looking at a volume from the outside.
On the right you see how the VolumeFog looks with straight accumulation.
That means the Do Lighting option is turned off.
On the right you see the same volume with lighting/scattering turned on and a single point light:
Here we have a slightly more complex Volume.

On the left with straight accumulation, in the middle with lighting, scattering and a single point light.
On the right the actual light in the scene has been moved, which also influences the look of the volume.

Position Tools
[VlM] Position Tools
Volume Mask
Description:
The Volume Mask tool is used to create volumetric masks from images containing XYZ Position channels.
This can e.g. be used to isolate objects for color correction without the need to track or roto the scene.
Shape Tab
External Inputs
Shape
Toggle between a basic spherical or rectangular Mask to be placed in your image.
The Mask can the be further refined by means of the MaskImage.
Translation Pick
XYZ values like a rendered worldpass to position the center of the volumetric Mask.
When picking from a 2D image make sure it's rendered in 32bit float to get full precision.
X, Y, Z Offset
These controls can be used to position the center of the Mask manually or can be animated or connected to The following inputs appear on
other controls in Fusion. the tools tile in the Flow Editor.
Rotation Pick VolumeFog.Image
Left-Click and hold on this button allows to pick rotational values from any 3D Scene or 2D image containing [orange, required]
those values like a XYZ-Normal-Pass to re-orient the Mask. This input expects an image con-
When picking from a 2D image like an XYZ-Normal-pass make sure it's rendered in 32bit float and World- taining a World Position Pass in
Space coordinates to get full precision and the correct rotational values. the XYZ Position Channels.
X, Y, Z Rotation
Use these controls to rotate the Mask around its center. VolumeFog.MaskImage
X, Y, Z Scale [green, optional]
Scale the Mask in any direction from it's center to further refine the overall Size value specified below. For refining the mask an image
can be connected here.
Size
The overall size in X, Y and Z of the Mask created. VolumeFog.EffectMask
Soft Edge [blue, optional]
Controls how much the Volume is faded towards the center from it's perimeter to achieve a softer look. The standard Effect Mask input as
Use OpenCL found on other Fusion tools.
the CPU. VolumeFog.SceneInput
Depending on the graphics card used in the computer this can boost the speed of the tool by a factor of 30 [pink, optional]
and more.
input containing a 3D Camera.
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Position Tools
[VlM] Position Tools
Volume Mask
Color Tab
Color
Allows to modify the color of the Mask generated. This will add to any color provided by the connected Mas-
kImage.
Subtractive / Additive Slider

Similar to the Merge tool this value controls if the Mask is composed onto the image in additive or subtractive
mode
leading to brighter or dimmer appearance of the Mask.
Mask Only
Outputs the generated Mask on a black background which then can be used as a mask on a Color Corrector
for further refinement.
Camera Tab
For a perfect evaluation of a Volume a Camera or 3D Scene can be connected to the Scene input of the tool.
Camera
Camera needed to evaluate the Volume.
Instead of connecting a Camera, position values can also be provided manually or by connecting the XYZ
values to other controls.
Translation Pick
XYZ values like a rendered worldpass to define the center of the Camera.
When picking from a 2D image make sure it's rendered in 32bit float to get full precision.
X, Y, Z Offset
These controls can be used to define the center of the Camera manually or can be animated or connected to
other controls in Fusion.
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Position Tools
[ZtW] Position Tools
Z to World
Description:
The Z to World tool is used to either generate a World Position Pass from a Z-Channel and a 3D Camera or a Z-Channel from a World Position Pass and a 3D Camera.
Creating a World Position Pass from Z-Depth can be useful when your 3D Application is not capable of creating a WPP.
It can also be used when a 3D-tracking Software outputs a per-pixel Z-Depth together with the 3D Camera. Thus the VolumeMask and Volumne Fog could be applied to real-world scenes. The
quality of the resulting WPP depends largely on the quality of the incoming Z-Channel.
Controls Tab
External Inputs
Mode
Toggle between creating a Z-Channel from a World Position Pass or vice versa.
Camera
Camera needed to evaluate the image.
The following inputs appear on

the tools tile in the Flow Editor.
ZtoWorld.Image
[orange, required]
This input expects an image con-
taining a World Position Pass or a
Z-depth pass, depending on the
desired operation.
ZtoWorld.EffectMask
[blue, optional]
The standard Effect Mask input as
found on other Fusion tools.
ZtoWorld.SceneInput
[pink, required]
input containing a 3D Camera.
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Position Tools
Position Tools
WPP Concept
Introduction:
The Position tools in Fusion offer a completely new way of working with Masks and Volumetrics for footage containing XYZ Position channels.
ZtoWorld offers the option to create those channels out of a Z-Channel and 3D Camera information.
Just for the sake of this overview we will refer to the World Position Pass as WPP later on.
What is a WPP?
The WPP reflects each pixel's XYZ position in the original scene as RGB color values.
So if the face the pixel was derived from in the original scene sits at 0/0/0 the resulting pixel will have an RGB
value of 0/0/0 and thus will be black.
If said face sits at 1/0/0 in the original scene the resulting pixel will be fully red.
Of course if the coordinates of our face are something like -60/75/123 the piexel will hold those values as well.
As you can see here, due to the huge extent 3D scenes can have the WPP channel should always be rendered
in 32bit floating point to provide the accuracy needed.
This image shows a 3D Rendering of a scene with it's center sitting at 0/0/0 in 3D Space and the according
WPP. For better visibility the WPP has been normalized.
Different coordinate spaces
WPPs can be rendered in different Coordinate Spaces.

These include World Space, Eye Space and Object Space.
The image below depicts how those different spaces look like, the tools in Fusion require the WPP to be ren-
dered in World Space though.
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WPP Concept 346
Position Tools
Top Position Tools
WPP Concept
The scene input
The tools offer a scene input, which can either be a 3D Camera or a 3D scene containing a camera.
While tha camera is vital for the ZtoWorld tool, Volume Mask and Volume Fog will still generate their output
without any camera attached or with the camera position set to 0/0/0.
However, connecting such a camera which lines up with the original camera the WPP has been rendered from
or setting the camera's position manually greatly improves accuracy and look of the resulting Fog or Mask.
The "invisible sphere"
The example scene shown so far has an empty background, meaning there is nothing in the scene apart from
the ground plane and the cubes.
If applying fog to a scene like that which is larger than said ground plane the result will look similar to the
"w/o Sphere" example shown below
because whith no WPP information outside the ground plane the resulting value will be 0/0/0, so the fog fills
that area as well.
To get around that you can add an invisible bounding sphere to your scene to create "dummy" WPP values to
help the fog tool to create the correct volume as shown in "with Sphere" below.
1988-2014 eyeon software - www.eyeonline.com WPP Concept 347

Primatte Keyer
Primatte 5
Description:
Primatte is an advanced keying system for Fusion.
Primatte 5
Its distributed and licensed by IMAGICA Corp. of America, Los Angeles, CA, USA
Primatte was developed by and is a trademark of IMAGICA Corp., Tokyo, Japan
External Inputs:
orange (required)
The primary input. As opposed to other tools in Fusion, this is actually the Foreground input, since it holds the image to be keyed - or in other words,
the image that is to be layered in the foreground of the composite. Connect the image to be keyed to this input.
green (optional)
In Primatte this is the Background input. It holds the background layer of the composite. If no image is connected, Primatte will just output the keyed Element.
Connect an image here to utilize Primattes advanced edge blending options.
pink (optional)
The replacement image input.
white (optional)
Garbage matte.
Blue (optional)
Post Mask input
NOTE: If the background input is connected, but the replacement image input is not, then the image replacement mode will use the background image, and the
keyed foreground will be placed over that background. If the replacement image input is connected, then itll be used for image replacement, and the keyed
foreground will still be placed over the image from the background input.
Primatte Tab
Lock Color Picking
Activate this button once you finished adjusting your key. This prevents from accidentally changing the settings by cli-
cking into the view.
Auto Compute
THis is most likely the first button you want to press when starting to key your footage. Primatte then automagically
analyzes the original foreground image and determines the backing color and sets it as the central backing color. Then,
using that information analyzes the original foreground image and determines the foreground areas using the new
Primatte V5 foreground detection routine. Then, internally, using the newly determined foreground areas performs the
Clean FG Noise operation and determines a more desirable shape for the middle and outer polyhedrons. It then renders
the composite using the generated polyhedrons. This does not automatically use the Adjust Lighting functionality as it
must be selected in a separate operation.
Select Background Color

Allows to select the background color which is meant to be keyed in the view by means of a color picker. It uses the tra-
ditional Primatte method of taking the sampled backing screen color, projecting a line in the opposite direction on the
hue wheel and generating artificial pixels that MAY represent the FG object. Then, using the artificially generated fore-
ground pixels internally does the Clean FG Noise operation and creates the shape of the middle and outer polyhedrons.
It then renders the composite using the generated polyhedrons. This does not automatically use the Adjust Lighting
functionality as it must be selected in a separate operation.
Clean Background Noise

Helps to remove any white regions in the dark screen area (noise), or shades of blue that did not get picked up on the
first sample. Move the cursor through these areas while holding the left ouse button down to sample these whitish noise
regions.
Clean Foreground Noise

If there are dark regions in the middle of the mostly white foreground object, that is, if the key is not 100% in some
portion of the targeted foreground, use Clean Foreground with the same techniques as for Clean Background Noise, but
this time sample the dark pixels in the foreground area until that area is as white as possible
Spill Sponge
The quickest method for removing color spill on your object is the Spill Sponge bob to sample the spill areas away. By
positioning the cursor over a bluish pixel and selecting it, the blue will disappear from the selected color region and be
replaced by a more natural color. Additional spill removal should be done using the tools under the Fine Tuning tab or
by using the Spill (-) feature. Both are explained further on in this manual
Matte Sponge
Sometimes in the Primatte operation, a 100% foreground area (all white) will become slightly transparent (gray). You can
clean those transparent areas up by using the Matte Sponge. Click on the transparent pixels and they will become 100%
foreground. All of the spill-suppression information will remain intact.
Restore Detail
With this mode selected, the completely transparent background region sampled in the image window becomes translu-
cent. This operation is useful for restoring lost hair details, thin wisps of smoke and the like. It shrinks the small polyhed-
ron slightly.
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Primatte Keyer
Make Foreground Transparent

When this mode is selected, the opaque foreground color region sampled in the image window becomes slightly trans-
lucent. This operation is useful for the subtle tuning of foreground objects which are otherwise 100 percent covered with
smoke or clouds. It can only be used one time on a particular color. For a more flexible way to thin out a color region
and be able to make multiple samples, you should use the Matte (-) tool. It expands the medium polyhedron slightly.
Spill(+)
Color spill will be returned to the sampled pixel color (and all colors like it) in the amount of one Primatte increment. This
tool can be used to move the sampled color more in the direction of the color in the original foreground image. It can
be used to nullify a Spill (-) step. This tool dents the Primatte large polyhedron in the color region sampled.
Spill(-)
Color spill will be removed from the sampled pixel color (and all colors like it) in the amount of one Primatte increment.
If spill color remains, another click using this operational mode tool will remove more of the color spill. Continue using
this tool until all color spill has been removed from the sampled color region. This tool expands the Primatte large poly-
hedron in the color region sampled.
Matte(+)
The matte will be made more opaque for the sampled pixel color (and all colors like it) in the amount of one Primatte in-
crement. If the matte is still too translucent or thin, another click using this operational mode tool will make the sampled
color region even more opaque. This can be used to thicken smoke or make a shadow darker to match shadows in the
background imagery. It can only make these adjustments to the density of the color region on the original foreground
image. It can be used to nullify a Matte (-) step. This tool dents the Primatte medium polyhedron in the color region
sampled.
Matte(-)
The matte will be made more translucent for the sampled pixel color (and all colors like it) in the amount of one Primatte
increment. If the matte is still too opaque, another click using this operational mode tool will make the sampled color
region even more translucent. This can be used to thin out smoke or make a shadow thinner to match shadows in the
background imagery. This tool expands the Primatte medium polyhedron in the color region sampled.
Detail(+)
The foreground detail will become less visible for the sampled pixel color (and all colors like it) in the amount of one
Primatte increment. If there is still too much detail, another click using this operational mode tool will make more of it
disappear. This can be used to remove smoke or wisps of hair from the composite. Sample where is visible and it will
disappear. This is for moving color regions into the 100% background region. It can be used to nullify a Detail (-) step.
This tool expands the Primatte small polyhedron in the color region sampled.
Detail(-)
When this operational mode is selected, foreground detail will become more visible for the sampled pixel color (and all
colors like it) in the amount of one Primatte increment. If detail is still missing, another click using this operational mode
tool will make detail more visible. This can be used to restore lost smoke or wisps of hair. Sample where the smoke or
hair just disappears and it will return to visibility. This is for restoring color regions that were moved into the 100% back-
ground region. It may start to bring in background noise if shooting conditions were not ideal on the foreground image.
This tool dents the Primatte small polyhedron in the color region sampled.
Algorithms
Primatte
The Primatte algorithm mode delivers the best results and supports both the Solid Color and the Complement
Color spill suppression methods. It is the algorithm that uses three multi-faceted polyhedrons (as described further
down in the this document) to separate the 3D RGB colorspace. It is also the default algorithm mode and, because it
is computationally intensive, it may take the longest to render.
Primatte RT
Primatte RT is the simplest algorithm and therefore, the fastest. It uses only a single planar surface to separate the
3D RGB colorspace (as described further down in the this document) and, as a result, does not have the ability to
separate out the foreground from the backing screen as carefully as the above Primatte algorithm. Other disadvan-
tages of the Primatte RT algorithm is that it does not work well with less saturated backing screen colors and it does
not support the Complement Color spill suppression method.
Primatte RT+
Primatte RT+ is in between the above two options. It uses a six planar surface color separation algorithm (as descri-
bed further down in the this document) and will deliver results in between the other two in both quality and perfor-
mance. Other disadvantages of the Primatte RT+ algorithm is that it does not work well with less saturated backing
screen colors and it does not support the Complement Color spill suppression method.
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Primatte Keyer
Hybrid Rendering
After sampling the backing screen color and finding that the edges of the foreground object look very good, you some-
times find that an area of the foreground object is transparent. This is due to the foreground containing a color that is
close to the backing screen color. When this transparency is removed using the Clean FG Noise operational mode, the
edge of the foreground object picks up a fringe that is close to the backing screen color and it is very hard to remove wi-
thout sacrificing quality somewhere else on the image. The Hybrid Render mode internally creates two keying operations
- Body and Edge. The Edge operation is optimized around getting the best edge around the foreground object without
any fringe effect. The Body operation is used to deal with the transparency within the foreground object. The resultant
matte is created by combining these two mattes, Body and Edge, by blurring and then eroding the foreground object in
the Body operation and then combining it with the matte created in the Edge operation.
The user first keys the main foreground area using the smart Select BG Color mode (or any of the other Primatte backing
screen detection methods) until a good result is obtained with good edges around the foreground object. Then the user
selects the Hybrid Render button and chooses the Clean FG Noise operational mode. When the transparent area is then
sampled, the Primatte V5 Hybrid Render mode will internally perform the Body/Edge operation. This results in a final
composite with good edges around the foreground object while still preserving the area within the foreground object
that was transparent.
Hybrid Blur
Blurs the Body matte that has been automatically generated.
Hybrid Erode
This slider allows to adjust the amount of erosion applied to the Hybrid Matte. The results can be viewed if the Hybrid
Matte button has been activated.
Adjust Lighting
Prior to applying the Adjust Lighting operation, it is necessary to determine the backing screen color using one of the
methods described above
Upon performing one of those operations, the user then clicks on the Adjust Lighting button. Primatte V5 will internally
generate an artificial backing screen without the foreground object and use it to generate the pre-processed image that
has an evenly lit backing screen behind the foreground object.
The default setting should detect all the areas of the Adjust Lighting grid that contain foreground pixels and deliver a
smooth artificially created optimized backing screen for the keying. Should it fail to do this, the user can adjust the
settings of the algorithm by selecting the Adjust Lighting mode and then moving the Lighting s-poly slider. The user can
then see the result of the lighting adjustment by selecting Cntl 2 tab and clicking on the Auto Backing Screen button.
This displays the optimized artificial backing screen that the Adjust Lighting mode creates. By again using one of the
operations that sample the backing screen color (listed above), the new results will be visible. This operation can be
repeated until a smooth, evenly lit optimized artificial backing screen is created.
Crop
This button reveals the Crop Sliders to create a rectangular garbage matte with the Primatte node.
As opposed to Fusions crop tool, this will not change the actual image size.
Reset
Resets all of the Primatte key control data back to a blue or greenscreen.
Soft Reset
Resets just the Primatte features used since the Select Background Color operation was last completed.
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Primatte Keyer
Finetuning Tab
Pick.
This shows the color selected (or registered) by the Fine Tuning operational mode.
Fine Tuning Sliders

When this operational mode is selected, the color of the sampled pixel within the image window is registered as a
reference color for fine tuning. It is displayed in the Color Chip below the Detail slider. To perform the tuning operation,
sample a color region on the image, select a Fine Tuning slider and move the slider to achieve the desired effect. See the
Fine Tuning Sliders tool descriptions further on in this chapter for more details on slider selection.
Spill
This Spill slider can be used to remove spill from the registered color region. The more to the right the slider moves, the
more spill will be removed. The more to the left the slider moves, the closer the color component of the selected region
will be to the color in the original foreground image. If moving the slider all the way to the right does not remove all the
spill, re-sample the color region and again move the slider to the right. These slider operations are additive. This result
achieved by moving the slider to the right can also be achieved by clicking on the color region using the Spill (-) operati-
onal mode. This slider bulges the Primatte large polyhedron near the registered color region.
Transparency
The transparency slider can be used to make the matte more translucent in the registered color region. Moving this sli-
der to the right makes the registered color region more transparent. Moving the slider to the left makes the matte more
opaque. If moving the slider all the way to the right does not make the color region translucent enough, re-sample the
color region and again move the slider to the right. These slider operations are additive. This result achieved by moving
the slider to the right can also be achieved by clicking on the color region using the Matte (-) operational mode. This
slider bulges the Primatte medium polyhedron near the registered color region.
Detail
The Detail slider can be used to restore lost detail. After choosing the Fine Tuning operational mode and selected a color
region, moving this slider to the left makes the registered color region more visible. Moving the slider to the left makes
the color region less visible. If moving the slider all the way to the left does not make the color region visible enough,
re-sample the color region and again move the slider to the left. These slider operations are additive. This result achie-
ved by moving the slider to the left can also be achieved by clicking on the color region using the Detail (-) operational
mode. This shrinks the small polyhedron (which contains all the blue or green background colors) and releases pixels
that were close to the background color. The Small Polyhedron Slider in the Fine Tuning mode is useful for restoring pi-
xels that were lost because they were so similar to the background color. This slider dents the Primatte small polyhedron
near the registered color region.
Replace Tab
Allows to choose between the three methods of color spill replacement as covered in detail in Spill Replacement Options
above.
Complemental
Replaces the spill color with the complement of the backing screen color.
Image
Replaces the spill color with colors from a defocused version of the background image.
Color
Replaces the spill color with a user selected solid color.
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Primatte Keyer
Degrain Tab
The Grain Tools are used when a foreground image is highly compromised by film grain. As a result of the grain, when
backing screen noise is completely removed, the edges of the foreground object often become harsh and jagged lea-
ding to a poor key.
Grain Size
The Grain Size selector provides a range of grain removal from Small to Large. If the foreground image has a large
amount of film grain induced pixel noise, you may lose a good edge to the foreground object when trying to clean all
the grain noise with the Clean Background Noise Operation Mode. These tools allow the user to clean up the grain noise
without affecting the quality of the key.
None
No degraining will be performed.
Small
The average color of a small region of the area around the sampled pixel. This should be used when the grain is very
dense.
Medium
The average color of a medium-sized region of the area around the sampled pixel. This should be used when the grain is
less dense.
Large
The average color of a larger region of the area around the sampled pixel. This should be used when the grain is very
loose.
Grain Tolerance
Adjusting this slider increases the affect of the Clean Background Noise tool without changing the edge of the fore-
ground object.
Matte Tab
These controls behave the same as in the other Fusion keyer tools. Please have a look at the Matte Control.
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Primatte Keyer
Primatte 5
Basic Operation Tutorial

Auto Compute Tools
NOTE: This version of Primatte has a new feature that may eliminate the first three steps of using Primatte. It is called the
Auto Compute button and may make your keying operation much easier. You can click on this button as a first step and
it may automatically sense the backing screen color, eliminate it and even get rid of some of the foreground and back-
ground noise that would normally be cleaned up in Steps 2 (Clean Background Noise) and 3 (Clean Foreground Noise) of
the Primatte operation. If you get good results then click here to jump ahead to the spill removal tools.
If you dont get the results you wanted from Auto Compute, please continue from this point on to get the basic Primatte
operation procedures. The basic functionality for the Primatte interface is centered around the Operational Mode Selec-
tor buttons and the image window.
Select Background Color

There are four main steps to using the Primatte and Select Background Color is the first step. Ensure that the Select
Background Color button is selected (it should be at this time as it is the default Operational Mode when you start Pri-
matte).
Position the cursor in the bluescreen area (or whatever background color you are using), usually somewhere near the
foreground object. Sample the targeted background color. Release the mouse button and Primatte will start the compo-
siting process. If the foreground shot was done under ideal shooting conditions, Primatte will have done 90-95% of the
keying in this one step.
Primatte will work equally well with any color backing screen. It does not have to be a specific shade of green or blue.
If you dragged the cursor in the blue area, Primatte averages the multi-pixel sample to get a single color to adjust to.
Sometimes Primatte works best when only a single pixel is sampled instead of a range of pixels. The color selected at this
point in the Primatte operation is critical to the operation of the spark from this point forward. Should you have difficul-
ties further along in the tutorial after selecting a range of blue shades, try the Select Background Color operation again
with a single dark blue pixel or single light blue pixel. You can also switch to the alpha channel view and click around in
the bluescreen area and see the different results you get when the initial sample is made in different areas. Make sure
the View Mode buttons at the top of the Primatte interface has the Black Mode selected.
If you would rather make a rectangular or box selection and not use the snail trail or line sampling method, you can
switch between the two methods by clicking on either the Line or Box buttons in the top left hand corner of the image
window. The third method, Median, is the same as Line selection except that each point sampled is the result of taking
a 3x3 region around the point the user clicked and then applying a median filter. This can potentially reduce any noisy
pixels.
If the foreground image has a shadow in it that you want to keep it in the composite, do not select any of the dark blue
pixels in the shadow and the shadow will come along with the rest of the foreground image.
The second and third steps in using Primatte require viewing the Matte View in the monitor window. Make sure the View
Mode buttons at the top of the Primatte interface has the Black Mode selected. Click on on the Alpha Channel/RGB
button located below the image display area. The image displayed will change to a black and white matte view of the
image that looks like this:
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5 - Basic5Tutorial 353
Primatte Keyer
Clean Background Noise
Change the Operational Mode Selector from Select Background Color to Clean Background Noise. If there are any white
regions in the dark, `bluescreen area, this is referred to as noise. Technically some shades of blue that did not get
picked up on the first sample and should be removed. Move the cursor through these areas if using the Line sampling
method (or make a box around them if using the Box Sampling method) and sample these whitish noise regions. When
you let up on the mouse button, Primatte will process the data and eliminate the noise. Repeat this procedure as often
as necessary to clear the noise from the background areas. Sometimes increasing the brightness of your monitor or the
screen gamma allows you to see noise that would otherwise be invisible.

Before Background noise removal After Background noise removal
NOTE: You do not need to remove every single white pixel to get good results. Most pixels displayed as a dark color
close to black in a key image will become transparent and virtually allow the background to be the final output in that
area. Consequently, there is no need to eliminate all noise in the bluescreen portions of the image. In particular, if an att-
empt is made to meticulously remove noise around the foreground object, a smooth composite image is often difficult
to generate.
TIP: When clearing noise from around loose, flying hair or any background/foreground transitional area, be careful not
to select any of areas near the edge of the hair. Leave a little noise around the hair as this can be cleaned up later using
the Fine Tuning tool.
Clean Foreground Noise
If there are dark regions in the middle of the mostly white foreground object, that is, if the key is not 100% in some por-
tion of the targeted foreground, choose Clean Foreground Noise from the Operational Mode Selector pop-up menus.
Use the same techniques as for Clean Background Noise, but this time sample the dark pixels in the foreground area
until that area is as white as possible.

Before Foreground noise removal After Foreground noise removal
Removing Spill Setup
These were the steps necessary to create a clean matte or key view of the image. With this key, the foreground can
be composited onto any background image. However, if there is `spill on the foreground object from light that was
reflected off the background, a final operation is necessary to remove that background spill get a more natural looking
composite.
For the fourth step in the Primatte operation, return the Composite view to the monitor window by clicking again on the
Alpha/RGB toggle button. Now change the View Mode to composite. This will turn off the alpha channel viewing mode
and the monitor window will again display the Composite view with the background image. The sample image below
has gone through the first three steps and has examples of spill. Notice the blue fringe to her hair and a blue tint on her
right cheek, arm and chest.
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Primatte Keyer
Spill Removal - Method #1

There are three ways in Primatte to remove the spill color. The quickest method is to select the Spill Sponge button from
the Operational Mode area and then sample the spill areas away. By just positioning the cursor over a bluish pixel and
selecting it, the blue will disappear from the selected color region and be replaced by a more natural color. Additional
spill removal should be done using the tools under the Fine Tuning tab or by using the Spill (-) feature. Both are explai-
ned further on in this manual.
Note: All spill removal/replacement operations in Primatte can be modified using the Background Spill Replacement
tools under the Replace tab. Spill can be replaced with either the complement of the background color, a solid color
selected by the user or by colors brought from a defocused copy of the background. Depending on the spill conditions,
one of these options should provide the results you are looking for. See the information in Section 5. Spill Replacement
Options for more details.
Note: Primattes spill removal tools work on color regions. In the image above, samples should be made on the light
flesh tones, the dark flesh tones, the light blonde hair, the dark blonde hair and the red blouse color regions. One sample
in each color region will remove spill from all similar colors in the foreground image.
If the spilled color was not been totally removed using the Spill Sponge or the result of the Spill Sponge resulted in ar-
tifacts or false coloring, a fine-tuning operation Spill (-) tool should be used instead for a more subtle and sophisticated
removal of the spilled background color.

Select the Fine Tuning tab in the Primatte interface.
Using the zoom and pan capabilities of the Fusion application, zoom into an area that has some blue edges or spill.
Using the cursor, sample a color has spill in it. When you let up on the mouse button, Primatte will register the color
selected (or an average of multiple pixels) in the Pick... Color Chip. For most images, the Spill slider is all that is required
to remove any remaining bluespill. The more to the right the slider moves, the more background screen color will be
removed from the sampled pixels. The more to the left the slider moves, the more the selected pixels will move toward
the color in the original foreground image.
Note: When using the slider in the Fine Tuning tab to remove spill, spill color replacement will be replaced based on the
setting of the Spill Replacement options .
TIP: It is better to make several small adjustments to the bluespill areas than a single major one.
You can use the other two sliders in the same way for different key adjustments. The Detail slider controls the matte
softness for the color which is closest to the background color. For example, you can recover lost rarefied smoke in the
foreground by selecting the Fine Tuning mode, clicking on the area of the image where the smoke just starts to disap-
pear and moving the Detail slider to the left. The Transparency slider controls the matte softness for the color which is
closest to the foreground color. For example, if you have thick and opaque smoke in the foreground, you can make it
semi-transparent by moving the Transparency slider to the right after selecting the pixels in the Fine Tuning mode.
TIP: If the foreground image changed color dramatically during the fine tuning process, you can recover the original
color by selecting an area of the off-color foreground image and moving the Spill slider slightly to the left. This may
introduce bluespill back into that color region. Again, use the Fine Tuning option to suppress the blue, but make smaller
adjustments this time.

This method uses a fairly recent Primatte tool that is covered in detail in the next section Chapter 4. Repeatable Samp-
ling Tools.
NOTE: If these final spill suppression operations have changed the final compositing results, you may have to return to
earlier operations to clean up the matte. If the composite view looks good, it is a good idea to go back and take a final
look at the alpha channel view. Sometimes in the Primatte operation, a 100% foreground area (all white) will become
slightly transparent (gray). You can clean those transparent areas up by using the Matte Sponge tool. After selecting the
Matte Sponge tool, just click on the transparent pixels and they will become 100% foreground. All of the spill-suppressi-
on information will remain intact. Alternatively, you can go to the alpha channel view and then using the Fine Tuning op-
tion, select those transparent areas and move the Transparency slider slightly to the left. This will move that color region
from 0-99% foreground with spill suppression to 100% foreground with spill suppression and should solve the problem.
The Matte (+) tool will also work to solve this problem.
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Primatte Keyer
Repeatable Sampling Tools

Most of the Primatte operations are done using a mouse sampling operation. The only exceptions are the Fine Tuning
operational mode and its sliders. The Fine Tuning operation gives a continuous valuator for fine-tuning but some of the
sliders are not often used because results are often unpredictable or not subtle enough. Note: Another weak point in
previous versions of Primatte is the lack of functionality to attenuate and thicken the existing matte density. This version
of Primatte offers a more intuitive, easy-to-use and powerful user interface called Repeatable Sampling.
In addition to the conventional Primatte operation modes previously mentioned, six other tools are added:
Spill (+)
Spill (-)
Matte (+)
Matte (-)
Detail(+)
Detail(-)
The Spill Sampling Tools
Using the Spill (+) and Spill (-) modes, you can gradually remove or recover the spill intensity on the foreground object
by sampling the referenced color region repeatedly. The conventional Spill Sponge tool removes the spill component in
a single action at one level and did not allow sampling the same pixel a second time. Even though just a small amount of
spill needed to be removed, the spill sponge removed a preset amount without allowing any finer adjustment.
Effect of Spill (+/-) Repeatable Sampling
Using the zoom and pan capabilities of the Fusion application, zoom into an area that has some blue edges and click
on a pixel with some spill on it. Repeated clicking will incrementally remove the spill. Continue this operation until the
desired result is achieved.
The Matte Sampling Tools
The Matte (+) and Matte (-) modes are used to thicken or attenuate the matte information. If you want a thinner shadow
on a foreground object, you can use the Matte (-) mode as many times as you like to make it more transparent. On the
other hand, you can use the Matte (+) mode to make the matte thicker in that color region.
Effect of Matte (+/-) Repeatable Sampling
The Detail Sampling Tools
The Detail (+) and Detail (-) modes are a refined version of Clean Background Noise and Restore Detail. For example,
when you see some dilute noise in the backing area but dont want to remove it completely because it affects some fine
detail in a different area, try using Detail (-). It will attenuate the noise gradually as multiple samples are made on the
pixel. You should stop the sampling when important fine details start to disappear.
Effect of Detail (+/-) Repeatable Sampling
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Primatte Keyer
Spill Replacement Options
The proper processing of spill on foreground objects is one of the many useful features of Primatte. You can move bet-
ween these three modes to see how they affect the image clip you are working with. The three methods are as follows:
Complemental Spill Replacement (Complement)

Defocus Spill Replacement (Image)
Solid Color Spill Replacement (Color)
Complemental Replacement Mode
This is the default spill replacement mode. This mode will maintain fine foreground detail and deliver the best quality
results. If foreground spill is not a major problem, this mode is the one that should be used.
Complemental Replacement Mode Maintains Fine Detail.
The Complemental Replacement mode is sensitive to foreground spill. If the spill intensity on the foreground image is
rather significant, this mode may often introduce serious noise in the resultant composite.
Solid Color Replacement Mode
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Primatte Keyer
Defocus Replacement Mode
The Defocus Replacement mode uses a defocused copy of the background image to determine the spill replacement
colors instead of a solid palette color or just the complement color. This mode can result in good color tone on the
foreground object even with a high contrast background. As in the example below, spill can even be removed from
frosted glass using this feature and still retain the translucency. - On the negative side, the Defocus Replacement mode
sometimes results in the fine edge detail of the foreground objects getting lost. Another problem could occur if the user
wanted to later change the size of the foreground image against the background. Since the background/foreground
alignment would change, the applied color tone from the defocused image might not match the new alignment.
Blue Suppression of a Frosted Glass Object
Solid Color Replacement Mode
- In the Solid Color Replacement mode, the spill component will be replaced by a user defined palette color. While the
Complemental Replacement mode uses only the backing color complement to remove small amounts of spill in the
original foreground, the Solid Color Replacement mode tries to assuage the noise using the user defined palette color.
Changing the palette color for the solid replacement, the user can apply good spill replacement that matches the com-
posite background. Its strength is that it works fine with even serious blue spill conditions.
Smooth Spill Processing with Solid Color Replacement
On the negative side, when using the Solid Color Replacement mode, fine detail on the foreground edge tends to be
lost. The single palette color sometimes cannot make a good color tone if the background image has some high cont-
rast color areas.
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Primatte Keyer
Matte Blur Inward Feature
A new method of defocusing or blurring the matte has been added. This new feature can be set to only blur inward
toward the center of the foreground subject. The conventional Primatte defocus feature affected the matte edges in
both directions (inward and outward) and sometimes introduced a halo artifact around the object edge in the composi-
te view. This was most evident when using the Complemental Replacement mode. With the Blur Inward switch ON, the
matte defocus functions only in the inward direction of the foreground subject (toward the center of the white area).
The final result is that it removes small and dark noise in the backing area without picking them up again in the Clean
Background Noise mode and sometimes results in softer, cleaner edges on the foreground objects.
External Garbage Matte Input
Primatte accepts a hand-drawn matte as the external matte to hide the unnecessary garbage like light arms, micropho-
nes and other undesirable foreground object. Areas that are white in the garbage matte clip will take the pixels from
the background and areas that are black will be from the composite image. This External Garbage Matte can also be
inverted.
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Stereo Tools
Anaglyph Combiner Splitter

Stereo Tools
[Ana] Stereo Tools
Anaglyph
Description:
The Anaglyph tool is used to create stereoscopic images by combining separate left eye and right eye images. It features different methods for that.
It is most commonly used at the end of a stereoscopic workflow to display or deliver the final result.
Controls Tab
When using separate images for the left and right eye, the left eye image is connected to the orange in-
put and the right eye image is connected to the green input of the tool. When using either horizontally or
vertically stacked images containing both left- and right information, these only connect to the orange input.
Based on one of the methods described below, the separate images are then combined to create a stereosco-
pic output.
Color Type menu

The ColorType menu allows you to choose between different color encodings
to fit your preferred display device.
To match you stereo glasses you can choose between Red/Cyan, Red/Green, Red/Blue, Amber/Blue and
Green/Magenta encoding. Whereas Red/Cyan turns out to be the most commonly used.
Method menu
In addition to the color used for encoding the image you can also choose five different methods. Monochro-
me, Half-Color, Color, Optimized and Dubois.
Monochrome
The left eye contains the luminance of the left image, and the right eye contains the luminance of the right
image (eg. the luminance of the left image is placed in the output red channel, and the luminance of the right
image is placed in the output green and blue channels).
Half-Color
The left eye contains the luminance of the left image, and the right eye contains the colour channels from the
right image that match the glasses colour for that eye (eg. the luminance of the left image is placed in the
output red channel, and the green and blue channels of the right image are placed in the output green and
blue channels).
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Stereo Tools
[Ana] Stereo Tools
Anaglyph
Color
The left eye contains the colour channels from the left image that match the glasses colour for that eye, and the right
eye contains the colour channels from the right image that match the glasses colour for that eye (eg. the red channel of
the left image is placed in the output red channel, and the green and blue channels of the right image are placed in the
output green and blue channels).
Optimized
Used with red/cyan glasses for example, the resulting brightness of what shows through the left eye will be substantially
less than the brightness of the right eye. Using typical ITU-R 601 ratios for luminance as a guide, the red eye would give
0.299 brightness, while the cyan eye would give 0.587+0.114=0.701 brightness - over twice as bright. The difference in
brightness between the eyes can produce whats referred to as retinal rivalry or binocular rivalry, which can destroy the
stereo effect. The Optimised method generates the right eye in the same fashion as the Color method. The left eye also
uses the green and blue channels, but in a combination with increased brightness that reduces retinal rivalry. Since it uses
the same two channels from each of the source images, it doesnt reproduce the remaining one (eg. 1.05 the green and
0.45 the blue channels of the left image is placed in the output red channel, and the green and blue channels of the
right image are placed in the output green and blue channels. Red from both the left and right images is not used).
Dubois
Images with fairly saturated colours can produce retinal rivalry with Half-color, Color and Optimised methods because the
colour is only visible in one eye. For example, with red/cyan glasses, a saturated green object looks black in the red eye,
and green in the cyan eye. The Dubois method uses the spectral characteristics of (specifically) red/cyan glasses and CRT
(Trinitron) phosphors to produce a better anaglyph and in the end tends to reduce retinal rivalry caused by such colour
differences in each eye, and also tends to reduce ghosting produced when one eye leaks into the other eye. The particu-
lar calculated matrix we use is designed for red/cyan glasses and so isnt available for other glasses types, and since it is
also derived from CRT colour primaries, it may not give the best results with a common LCD (though itll still likely produ-
ces less retinal rivalry and ghosting than the other methods).
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Stereo Tools
[Ana] Stereo Tools
Anaglyph
Swap eyes
Allows to easily swap the left and right eye input.
Horiz Stack
Takes an image which contains both left- and right-eye information stacked horizontally. These images are often referred
to as 'crosseyed' or 'straight stereo' images. You only need to connect that one image to the orange input of the tool. It
then creates an image half the width of the original input, using the left half of the original image for the left eye and the
right half of the original image for the right eye. Color encoding takes place using the specified color type and method.
Vert Stack
Takes an image which contains both left- and right-eye information stacked vertically. You only need to connect that one
image to the orange input of the tool. It then creates an image half the height of the original input, using the bottom half
of the original image for the left eye and the top half of the original image for the right eye. Color encoding takes place
using the specified color type and method.
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Stereo Tools
[Com] Stereo Tools
Combiner
Description:
The Combiner tool takes two stereoscopic inputs and creates so called stacked images with the left and right eye either side by side or on top of each other.
Controls Tab
To stack the images the left eye image is connected to the orange input and the right eye image is connected
to the green input of the tool.
None
No operation will take place. The output image is identical to the left eye input.
Horiz
Both images will be stacked horizontally, or side-by-side, with the image connected to the left eye input on
the left. This will result in an output image double the width of the input image.
Vert
Both images will be stacked vertically, or on top of each other, with the image connected to the left eye input
on the bottom. This will result in an output image double the height of the input image.
Swap eyes
Allows to easily swap the left and right eye input.
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Stereo Tools
[Spl] Stereo Tools
Splitter
Description:
The Splitter takes a stacked input image, e.g. created with the Combiner, and provides two output images. A left eye and a right eye.
Controls Tab
None
No operation will take place. The output image on both outputs is identical to the input image.
Horiz
The tool expects a horizontally stacked image. This will result in two output images, each being half the width
of the input image.
Vert
The tool expects a vertically stacked image. This will result in two output images, each being half the height of
the input image.
Swap eyes
Allows to easily swap the left and right eye output.
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Tracker Tools
Tracker

Tracker Tools
[Tra] Tracker Tools
Tracker
Description:
The Tracker is used to detect and follow one or more pixel patterns across frames in moving video. The tracking data can then be used to control the position or values of other tools in the
composition (for example, the center of a Drip). Additionally, trackers can be used to stabilize an image, or to apply de-stabilization to one image based on the motion of another.
Please also refer to the Tracking Explained section in the Appendices.
Trackers Tab
Track Buttons
There are four buttons used to initiate tracking, and one in the middle used to stop a track in progress. These
buttons can track the current pattern forward or backward in time. Hold the mouse pointer over each button
for a moment and a tooltip with the name of the button will appear.
The buttons operate as follows :
Track Reverse
Clicking on this button will cause all Active trackers to begin tracking their patterns, starting at the end of the
render range and moving backward through time until the beginning of the render range.
Track Reverse From Current Time

Clicking on this button will cause all Active trackers to begin tracking their patterns, starting at the current
frame and moving backward through time until the beginning of the render range.
Stop Tracking
Clicking on this button will Stop the tracking process immediately. This can also be achieved by pressing ESC.
This button will only be active when tracking is in process.
Track Forward From Current Time

Clicking on this button will cause all Active trackers to begin tracking their patterns, starting at the current
frame and moving forward through time until the end of the render range.
Track Forward
Clicking on this button will cause all Active trackers to begin tracking their patterns, starting at the first frame
in the render range and moving forward through time until the end of the render range.
Frames Per Path Point

This value of the slider determines how often the Tracker sets a Keyframe on the Path. The normal default is 1,
which sets a Keyframe on the tracked path at every frame.
Increasing the value of this slider will cause the tracked path to be less accurate. This may be desirable if the
track is returning fluctuating results, but under normal circumstances this control should be left at its default
value.
If the project is field rendered, a value of 1 sets a Keyframe on every field.

Since the tracker is extremely accurate, this will result in a slight up-and-down jittering due to the position of
the tracked pattern fields.
For fielded footage tracked in field mode you will get better results setting this slider to a value of 2,
which will result in one keyframe per frame of your footage.
Adaptive Mode
Fusion is capable of re-acquiring the tracked pattern as needed, to help with complex tracks. This button array
determines what mode of Adaptive tracking is employed.
None
If selected, Fusion searches only for the pattern originally selected in each single frame.
Every Frame
If selected, Fusion re-acquires the pattern every frame. This helps the tracker compensate for gradual changes
in profile and lighting over time.
Best Match
If selected, the Tracker will compare the pattern acquired at each frame and compare it to the original selected
pattern. If the variation between the two patterns exceeds the threshold amount defined by the Match Tole-
rance control, Fusion will not re-acquire the pattern on that frame. This helps to avoid tracker drift caused by
transient artifacts that cross the pattern's path (such as a shadow).
Path Center
The two buttons in this button array determine how the Tracker behaves when re-positioning a pattern. These
controls are used when switching a path from one pattern to another, which happens when a pattern leaves
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Tracker Tools
[Tra] Tracker Tools
Tracker
the frame, or changes so significantly it can no longer be tracked.
Pattern Center
When Pattern Center is the Active mode, the tracked path continues from the center of the new path. This is
appropriate when replacing an existing path entirely, but when trying to append to a path using a new pat-
tern, this will cause a discontinuity.
Track Center (append)

When Track Center (append) is selected, the path tracked by a new pattern will be appended to the existing
path. The Path created is automatically offset by the required amount. This technique will work best if the new
pattern is located close to the position of the old pattern to avoid any problems with parallax or lens distorti-
on.
This mode can also be used to virtually continue the tracking of patterns that move out of the frame or get
obstructed by other objects.
Add / Delete Tracker

Use these to add or delete Trackers from your Tracker List.
Add
Add a new Tracker
Delete
Delete the tracker that is currently selected in the Tracker List.
Tracker List
The Tracker List shows the names of all of the patterns created on this tracker. It is also used to add new tra-
ckers.
The Tracker tool is capable of hosting a virtually unlimited number of tracker patterns.
Click on the Add button immediately above the list to add a new tracker pattern.
Each pattern appears in the list by name, next to a small checkbox. Clicking on the name of the pattern will
select that pattern.
The controls below the list will change to affect that pattern only. Click once on a selected pattern to rename
the pattern to something more descriptive.
Clicking on the checkbox changes the state of the Tracker.
Tracker States
Enabled (Black Checkbox)
An Enabled pattern will re-track each time the track is initiated. Its path data is available for use by other tools,
and the data is available for Stabilization and Corner Positioning.
Suspended (Grey Checkbox)
A Suspended pattern does not re-track when the track is initiated. The data is locked to prevent additional
changes. The data from the Path is still available for other tools, and the data is available for advanced tra-
cking modes like Stabilization and Corner Positioning.
Disabled (Clear)
A Disabled pattern does not create a path when tracking is initialized, and its data is not available to other
tools, or for advanced tracking operations like Stabilization and Corner Positioning.
Show
These two buttons determine what controls are displayed in the tool controls. They have no effect on the
operation of the Tracker, they only affect the interface.
Selected Tracker Details

When Selected Tracker Details is selected, the controls displayed pertain only to the currently selected tracker.
You will have access to the Pattern Window and the Offset sliders.
All Trackers
When All Trackers is selected, the pattern window for each of the trackers is displayed simultaneously below
the Tracker List.
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Tracker Tools
[Tra] Tracker Tools
Tracker
Left Pattern Display

The Pattern Display has two image windows next to each other, and a series of status bars.
The window on the left shows the pattern initially selected, while the one on the right shows a real-time dis-
play of the current pattern as tracking progresses.
As the onscreen controls are moved for a pattern, the display in the leftmost window will update to show the
pattern. As the pattern is moved, the clarity and contrast of the image channels is indicated by the vertical
bars immediately to the right of the image display.
The channel, or channels, with the best clarity are automatically selected for tracking. These channels have a
white background in the vertical bar representing that channel.
The automatic tracking can be allowed to stand, or you can override the automatic selection and choose the
channel used for tracking by disabling the button labelled with a question mark, and selecting the button
beneath the channel to track.
Under normal circumstances, the channel selected is indicated in the Pattern Display.
If the selected channel is blue, then a greyscale representation of the blue channel for the pattern appears.
The image is only represented in full color if all three channels are selected for tracking.
Override this behavior by selecting the Show Full Color button beneath the Pattern Display, instead of the
Show Selected Channel button.
As Fusion looks for the channel with the highest contrast automatically, you might end up tracking the boue channel, es-
pecially on scanned film material. Unfortunately the blue channel on most filmstock contains the most grain as well, which
naturally leads to unclean tracks. Before tracking it's always a good idea to zoom into your footage and check the RGB
channels individually.
Right Pattern Display

The Pattern Display on the right indicates the actual pattern acquired for tracking. This display is clear until the
first time the selected pattern is actually tracked. The Pattern Display becomes active during tracking, display-
ing the pattern that Fusion acquires from frame to frame.
As the tracking occurs, the pattern from each frame is accumulated into a Flipbook, which can be played back
in the pattern window after tracking by using the transport controls at the bottom of the window.
While the track is progressing, the vertical bar immediately to the right of the pattern shows how confident
Fusion is that the current pattern matches the originally selected pattern. A green bar indicates a high degree
of confidence that the current pattern matches the original. A yellow bar indicates less certainty, and a red
bar indicates that Fusion has detected extreme variations in the current pattern, and is no longer certain of its
accuracy.
After tracking, the pattern display will show a small flipbook of the track for that pattern, overlaid with a frame
number to help identify problem frames for the track
Pattern Width And Height
Use these controls to adjust the width and height of the selected tracker pattern manually.
The size of the tracker pattern can also be adjusted in the display view, which is the normal method, but small
adjustments are often easier to accomplish with the precision of manual controls.
Search Width And Height

The search area defines how far Fusion will look in the image from frame to frame to re-acquire the pattern
during tracking. As with the Pattern Width and Height, the Search Area can be adjusted in the display views,
but you may want to make small adjustments manually using these controls.
Tracked Center
This positional control indicates the position of the tracker's center. To remove a path from a tracker pattern,
right-click on this control and select Remove Path from the context menu.
X And Y Offset
You will often need to track the position of an object in the scene, but that object does not provide for a very
reliable pattern. The Offsets permit the tracking of something close to the intended object instead. Use these
Offsets to adjust the reported position of the Tracker so that the data is reported for the intended pattern
instead of the actual one.
The Offset can also be adjusted directly in the view by activating the allow moving the positioner's offsets icon
next to your view.

Tracker Tools
[Tra] Tracker Tools
Tracker
Operation Tab
The Tracker tool is capable of performing a wide variety of functions, from match moving an object into a
moving scene, smoothing out in a shaky camera movement, or replacing the content of a sign.
Use the options and buttons in the Operation tab to select the function performed by the Tracker tool.
Please also refer to the Tracking Explained section in the Appendices.
Operation Buttons
These four buttons select the exact function performed by the Tracker. The remaining controls in this tab fine
tune the result of the Operation.
None
The Tracker performs no additional operation on the image beyond simply locating and tracking the chosen
pattern. This is the default mode, used to create a path that will then drive another control in Fusion.
Match Move
This mode is used when stabilizing an image, or when matching the position, rotation and scaling of the layer
for match moving another element into the scene. Stabilizing requires a minimum of one tracker to determine
position, and two or more to determine scaling and rotation in the sequence.
Corner Positioning
The Corner Positioning mode is used to track the four corners of a rectangular object, and replace the con-
tents with a new image. A minimum of four trackers is required for this mode, and if there are not enough
trackers, new ones will be created until the total equals four.
Perspective Positioning
This mode is similar to the Corner Positioner but, rather than replacing the contents of the rectangle, the four
tracked corners are mapped to the four corners of the image. This is generally used to remove Perspective
from an image. Like the Corner Positioner, this mode requires four trackers, which will be created if there are
not already that many.
Merge
The Merge control determines what is done (if anything) with the image provided to the foreground input of
the Tracker. This array of buttons appears when the operation is set to anything other than None.
BG Only
The foreground input is ignored, only the Background is affected. This is used primarily when Stabilizing an
image sequence.
FG Only
The Foreground input is transformed to match the movement in the background, and this transformed image
is passed through the Tracker's output. This Merge technique is used when match moving one layer's motion
to another's.
FG Over BG
The Foreground image is merged over the Background image, using the Merge method described by the
Apply Mode control that appears.
BG Over FG
The Background is merged over the Foreground. This technique is often used when tracking a layer with an
Alpha channel so that a more static background can be applied behind it.
Apply Mode
This drop-down menu provides a variety of options to determine how the two layers should be combined.
The options in this menu are explained in more detail in the reference chapter for the Merge tool.
Subtractive - Additive
This determines whether the foreground layer is placed over the background in using Additive or Subtractive
merging techniques.
This control is explained in more detail in the documentation for the Merge tool.
Edges Match Move
This button array only appears if the Operation mode is set to Match Move. The various options select how
the revealed edges are handled when the image is moved to match position and scaling.
Black Edges
Out of frame edges revealed by Stabilization are left black.
Wrap
Portions of the image moved off frame to one side are used to fill edges that are revealed on the opposite

Tracker Tools
[Tra] Tracker Tools
Tracker
side.
Duplicate
The last valid pixel on an edge is repeated to the edge of the frame.
Position, Rotation, And Scaling Checkboxes

The Position, Rotation and Scaling checkboxes only appear when the mode is set to Match Move.
They determine what components of motion that stabilization will attempt to correct in the image.
For example, if only the Position checkbox is selected, no attempt will be made to correct for Rotation and
Scaling in the image.
Flatten Transformation
This checkbox only appears when the mode is set to Match Move.
Like most transformations in Fusion, Stabilization is concatenated with other sequential transformations by
default. Selecting this checkbox will flatten the transform, breaking any concatenation taking place and apply-
ing the transform immediately.
Mapping Type
The Mapping Type control only appears in the Corner Positioning mode. There are two options in the button
array.
Bi-Linear
The first method is Bi-Linear where the FG image is mapped into the BG without any attempt to correct for
perspective distortion. This is identical to how previous versions of Fusion operated, and the Classic mode is
included pretty much for compatibility reasons only.
Perspective
The preferred setting for this control is True Perspective.
Corner Selector
When the operation of the Tracker is set to either Corner or Perspective Positioner modes, these four drop-
down menus appear. They are used to select which trackers map to each of the four corners of the rectangle
used by these modes. This is useful when a tracker has more than four patterns selected, and you must choo-
se which are used by the positioners.
Rotate Buttons
These controls only appear when the operation of the Tracker is set to either Corner or Perspective Positioner
modes. They are used to rotate the FG image by 90 degrees before it is applied to the BG.
Stabilize Settings
The Tracker tool automatically outputs several steady and unsteady position outputs to which other controls
in the Flow can be connected. The Stable Position output provides X and Y coordinates to match or reverse
motion in a sequence. These controls are available even when the operation is not set to Match Move, since
the Stable Position output is always available for connection to other tools.
Axis Type (Stabilize Setting)

Under virtually all circumstances, the axis for any stabilization should be the average position of all trackers on
that frame, however, the rare occasion arises when the tracker's axis must be elsewhere.
This array of buttons allows for the selection of an axis for the Stabilization based on the position of a single
tracker, or a manual position.
Reference (Stabilize Setting)

The Reference controls are used to set the `snapshot frame' for Stabilization. When you stabilize an image,
there must be a position that is considered correct, to which all subsequent movement is detected, and cor-
rected.
Select Time
The Select Time Reference mode determines the `snapshot frame' based on the frame where the pattern is
first selected. All Stabilization is intended to return the image back to that reference.
Start
The snapshot frame is determined to be the first frame in the tracked path. All Stabilization is intended to
return the image back to that reference.
Start And End

The Start and End Reference mode is somewhat different from all other Reference modes. Where the others
are intended to take a snapshot frame to which all stabilization returns, immobilizing the image, the Start
and End mode is intended to smooth existing motion, without removing it. This mode averages the motion
between the Start and End of the path, drawing a straight line between those points.
When this mode is Active, it reveals the Reference Intermediate Points control. Increasing the value of this
control increases the number of points in the path used by the Reference, smoothing the motion from a
straight line between start and end without making it wholly linear.
End
The snapshot frame is determined to be the last frame in the tracked path. All Stabilization is intended to
return the image back to that Reference.
Tracker Tools
[Tra] Tracker Tools
Tracker
Onscreen Controls
Each pattern in the tracker has its own set of onscreen controls, used to select the pixels in the image to be
tracked.
These controls are visible in the display views whenever a tracker is selected in a flow.
The onscreen control is indicated by a red rectangle with a handle in the top left corner.
This rectangle indicates the position of the pattern in the image. Every pixel within the rectangle is considered
to be part of the pattern used for tracking.
Resize the pattern by clicking and dragging on the rectangles borders.
Whenever the mouse moves over the pattern rectangle, a second rectangle with a dashed outline appears.
This represents the search area, which determines how far away from the current pattern the Tracker looks on
the next frame.
This should always be larger than the pattern, and it should be large enough to encompass the largest frame-
to-frame movement in the scene.
Faster moving objects require larger search areas and slower moving objects can get away with smaller search
areas.
The larger the search area, the longer it will take to track, so try not to make the search area larger than ne-
cessary.
Click-dragging on the handle repositions the pattern.

While repositioning the pattern, a thumbnail window with an enlarged view of the pattern is displayed in the
views,
to assist with precise positioning of the pattern. This thumbnail disappears when the mouse button is re-
leased.
The magnification ratio can be adjusted in the options tab.
If the selected tracker has a custom name, the name of that tracker will be displayed as a label at the bottom
right of the search area rectangle.
There is no limit to the number of trackers that can be used in one flow, or in the number of connections that can be made
to a tracker. This chapter serves as a reference for the various controls in the Tracker, but we strongly suggest you read
the more general information about using the tracker in the Tracking chapter.
The Tracker can be employed in two forms as a tool in the Flow, or as a modifier attached to a control. When the Tracker
is used as a tool in theFlow, the image tracked comes from the input to the Tracker tool. There is no limit to the number of
patterns that can be tracked by a single Tracker tool.
When the Tracker is used as a modifier, its controls appear in the Modifier tab for any tool with a control connected to
that modifier.Only one pattern can be tracked in by a Tracker Modifier, but the image source can come from anywhere in
the composition. This technique is generally used when tracking a quick position for a control.
X/Y Paths
By default the Tracker applies a Displacement Path to the tracked points. To apply an XY Path to the tracked
points go to Preferences -> Globals -> Splines.

Tracker Tools
[Tra] Tracker Tools
Tracker
Options Tab
Show Pattern Names in Preview
This option defines if the Tracker's name will be displayed in the view.
Switch it off to see just the Pattern Rectangle instead.
Show Enlarged Pattern On Dragging

This option defines if there is an enlarged view on positioning the Pattern Rectangle or not.
Enlargement Scale
The Zoom factor that is used on positioning the Pattern Rectangle when the above option is on.
The outputs of a tracker (seen in the connect to... menu) can also be used by scripts. They are:
SteadyPosition: Steady Position

UnsteadyPosition: Unsteady Position
SteadyAxis: Steady Axis
SteadySize: Steady Size
UnsteadySize: Unsteady Size
SteadyAngle: Steady Angle
UnsteadyAngle: Unsteady Angle
Position1: Tracker 1: Offset position
PerspectivePosition1: Tracker 1: Perspective Offset position
PositionX1: Tracker 1: Offset X position (3D Space)
PositionY1: Tracker 1: Offset Y position (3D Space)
PerspectivePositionX1: Tracker 1: Perspective Offset X position (3D Space)
PerspectivePositionY1: Tracker 1: Perspective Offset Y position (3D Space)
SteadyPosition1: Tracker 1: Steady Position
UnsteadyPosition1: Tracker 1: Unsteady Position
(similarly for the 2nd, 3rd and so on)

Transform Tools
Camera Shake Crop DVE Letterbox Resize
Scale Transform

Transform Tools
[CSh] Transform Tools
Camera Shake
Description:
This tool can simulate a variety of Camera Shake style motions from organic to mechanical. It is not the same as the Shake Modifier, which generates random number values for tool controls.
See the Connections and Modifiers chapter for more information about the Shake Modifier.
The Camera Shake tool concatenates its result with adjacent transformation tools. For more information on concatenation, consult the Transformations chapter.
Controls Tab
Deviation X And Y
These controls determine the amount of shake that is applied to the image along the horizontal (X) and
vertical (Y) axis. Values between 0.0 and 1.0 are permitted. A value of 1.0 generates shake positions anywhere
within the boundaries of the image.
Rotation Deviation
This determines the amount of shake that is applied to the rotational axis. Values between 0.0 and 1.0 are
permitted.
Randomness
Higher values in this control cause the movement of the shake to be more irregular or random. Smaller values
cause the movement to be more predictable.
Overall Strength
This adjusts the general amplitude of all the parameters and blends that affect in and out. A value of 1.0 ap-
plies the effect as described by the remainder of the controls.
Speed
Speed controls the frequency, or rate, of the shake.
Frequency Method
This selects the overall shape of the shake. Available frequencies are Sine, Rectified Sine and Square Wave. A
Square Wave will generate a much more mechanical looking motion than a Sine.
Edges
This determines how the Edges of the image are treated.
Black
This causes the edges that are revealed by the shake to be black.
Wrap
This causes the edges to wrap around (the top is wrapped to the bottom, the left is wrapped to the right, etc.).
Duplicate
This causes the Edges to be duplicated causing a slight smearing effect at the edges.
Invert Transform
Select this control to Invert any position, rotation or scaling transformation. This option might be useful to
exactly removing the motion produced in an upstream Camera Shake.
Flatten Transform
The Flatten Transform option prevents this tool from concatenating its transformation with adjacent tools. The
tool may still concatenate transforms from its input but it will not concatenate its transformation with the tool
at its output. See the Transformations chapter earlier in this manual for details on concatenated transformati-
on.
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Transform Tools
[CSh] Transform Tools
Camera Shake
Filter Modes
Nearest Neighbor
Box
Linear
Quadratic
Cubic
This produces better results with continuous tone images but is slower than Bi-Cubic. If the images have fine
detail in them, the results may be blurrier than desired.
Catmull-Rom
This produces good results with continuous tone images which are resized down. Produces sharp results with
finely detailed images.
Gaussian
Mitchell
This is similar to Catmull-Rom but produces better results with finely detailed images. It is slower than
Catmull-Rom.
Lanczos
Sinc
This is an advanced filter that produces very sharp, detailed results, however, it may produce visible 'ringing' in
some situations.
Bessel
Window Method
Some filters, such as Sinc and Bessel, require an infinite number of pixels to calculate exactly. To speed up this
operation, a windowing function is used to approximate the filter and limit the number of pixels required. This
control appears when a filter that requires windowing is selected.
Hanning
Hamming
Blackman
Kaiser
Most of these filters are useful only when making an image larger. When shrinking images, it
is common to use the Bi-Linear filter, however, the Catmull-Rom filter will apply some shar-
pening to the results and may be useful for preserving detail when scaling down an image.
Example

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Transform Tools
[Crp] Transform Tools
Crop
Description:
The Crop tool can be used to cut out a portion of an image or to offset the image into a larger image area. This tool actually changes the resolution of the image, and should not be animated
under normal circumstances.
It is possible to crop an image in the view by viewing the upstream tool and selecting a region with the mouse.
To do so first activate Allow Box Selection by clicking on the icon next to your view, then dragging a rectangle to perform the operation.
Crop Tab
Offset X And Y
These controls position the top left corner of the cropping window. Values larger than the actual resolution of
the cropped image cause it to disappear off the edges of the output image. Values below 0 will push the input
image toward the bottom right of the result. The values of these controls are measured in pixels.
Size X And Y
Use this control to set the vertical and horizontal resolution of the image output by the Crop tool. The values
of these controls are measured in pixels.
Keep Aspect
When toggled on, the Crop tool maintains the aspect of the input image.
Keep Centered
When toggled on, the Crop tool automatically adjusts the X and Y Offset controls to keep the image centered.
Reset Size
This resets the image dimensions to the Size of the input image.
Reset Offset
This resets the X and Y Offsets to their defaults.
Change Pixel Aspect

Enable this checkbox to reveal a Pixel Aspect control that can be used to change the pixel aspect that the
image is considered to have. See the Frame Formats chapter for details on how pixel aspect operates in Fusi-
on.
Clipping Mode
Frame
Domain
None
transparent.
Auto Crop Tab

RGBA Color Channels
Select which channels are examined for an Auto Crop. This is useful for auto cropping images with non-solid
backgrounds in a specific color channel, (like a blue color gradient). Toggling the channel off causes Auto Crop
to ignore it when evaluating the image.
Auto Crop
This evaluates the image and attempts to determine the background color. It then crops each side of the
image to the first pixel that is not this color.
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Transform Tools
[DVE] Transform Tools
DVE
Description:
The DVE tool is a 3D-image transformation similar to tools found in an online edit suite. The tool encompasses image rotations, perspective changes and Z moves. The axis can be defined for
all transformations.
Settings Tab
Pivot X, Y and Z
Position the axis of rotation and scaling. The default is 0.5 0.5 for X and Y, which is in the center of the image,
and 0 for Z, which is at the center of Z space.
Rotation Order
Use these buttons to determine in what order rotations are applied to the image.
XYZ Rotation
These controls are used to rotate the image around the pivot along the X, Y and Z axis.
Center X And Y
This positions the center of the DVE image on screen. The default is 0.5, 0.5, which positions the DVE in the
center of the image.
Z Move
This zooms the image in and out along the Z axis. Visually, when this control is animated, the effect is similar
to watching an object approach from a distance.
Perspective
This adds additional Perspective to an image rotated along the X or Y axis, similar to changing the Field of
View and zoom of a camera.
Masking Tab
The DVE tool allows pre-masking of its input image. This offers the ability to create transformations from the
masked area of the image while leaving the remainder of the image unaffected.
Unlike regular effect masking, the masking process occurs before the transformation. To use this feature, con-
nect a mask to the DVE tool's DVE Mask input. Alternatively, select the DVE tool, right-click on the view and
select DVE Mask from the context menu. All of the usual mask types can be applied to the DVE mask.
Black Background
Toggle this on to erase the area outside the mask from the transformed image.
Fill Black
Toggle this on to erase the area within the mask (before transformation) from the DVE's input, effectively
cutting the masked area out of the image. Enabling both Black Background and Fill Black will show only the
masked, transformed area.
Alpha Mode
This determines how the DVE will handle the alpha channel of the image, when merging the transformed
image areas over the untransformed image.
Ignore Alpha
This causes the input image's alpha channel to be ignored, so all masked areas will be opaque.
Subtractive / Additive
These cause the internal merge of the pre-masked image over the input image to be either Subtractive or
Additive.
For more information on Subtractive and Additive merges, see the Merge tool.
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DVE 378
Transform Tools
[Lbx] Transform Tools
Letterbox
Description:
Use the Letterbox Tool to adapt existing images to the frame size and aspect ratios of any other format. The most common use of this tool is to adapt film resolution images to NTSC or PAL
sized frames for viewing on an external television monitor. Horizontal or vertical black edges are automatically added where necessary to compensate for aspect ratio differences.
Controls Tab
Formats Context Menu

Place the pointer on the Aspect X or Y control and press the right mouse button to display a menu with
available frame formats. Select any one of the choices from the menu to set the Height, Width and Aspect
controls automatically, or enter the required information manually.
Width And Height

The values of these controls determine the size of the output image as measured in pixels.
Pixel Aspect X And Y

The controls determine the Pixel Aspect Ratio of the output image.
Center X And Y
This center control repositions the image window when used in conjunction with Pan-And-Scan mode. It has
no effect on the image when the tool is set to Letterbox mode.
Mode
This control is used to determine the Letterbox tool's mode of operation.
Letterbox/Envelope
This corrects the aspect of the input image and resizes it to match the specified width.
Pan-And-Scan
This corrects the aspect of the input image and resizes it to match the specified height. If the resized input
image is wider than the specified width, the center control can be used to animate the visible portion of the
resized input.
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Transform Tools
[Lbx] Transform Tools
Letterbox
Filter Modes
Nearest Neighbor
Box
Linear
Quadratic
Cubic
Catmull-Rom
Gaussian
Mitchell
Catmull-Rom.
Lanczos
Sinc
some situations.
Bessel
Window Method
Hanning
Hamming
Blackman
Kaiser
Example

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Transform Tools
[Rsz] Transform Tools
Resize
Description:
Use the Resize tool to increase or decrease the resolution of an input image. This is useful for converting images from one format to another (for example, from film to video resolution).
Controls Tab
Width
This controls the new resolution for the image along the X axis.
Height
This controls the new resolution for the image along the Y axis.
Keep Aspect
When toggled on, the Resize tool maintains the aspect of the original image, preserving the original ratio
between width and height.
Reset Size
Reset the image dimensions to the original size of the image.
Reset Size
Reset the image dimensions to the original size of the image.
Only Use Filter in HiQ

The Resize tool will normally use the fast Nearest Neighbor filter for any non-HiQ renders, where speed is
more important than full accuracy. Disable this checkbox to force Resize to always use the selected filter for all
renders.
Change Pixel Aspect

on.
Note
Because this tool changes the physical resolution of the image, we do not normally advise animating the
controls.
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Transform Tools
[Rsz] Transform Tools
Resize
Filter Method
When rescaling a pixel, surrounding pixels are often used to give a more realistic result. There are various al-
gorithms for combining these pixels, called filters. More complex filters can give better results, but are usually
slower to calculate. The best filter for the job will often depend on the amount of scaling and on the contents
of the image itself.
Nearest Neighbor
Box
Linear
Quadratic
Cubic
Catmull-Rom
Gaussian
Mitchell
Catmull-Rom.
Lanczos
Sinc
some situations.
Bessel
Window Method
Hanning
Hamming
Blackman
Kaiser
Example

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Transform Tools
[Scl] Transform Tools
Scale
Description:
The Scale tool is almost identical to the Resize tool, except that Resize uses exact dimensions where the Scale tool uses relative dimensions to describe the change to the source image's reso-
lution.
Controls Tab
Lock X/Y
When selected ony a Size control is shown and changes to the image's scale are applied to both axis equally. If
the checkbox is cleared, individual size controls appear for both X and Y Size.
Size X/Y
The Size control is used to set the scale used to adjust the resolution of the source image. A value of 1.0
would have no affect on the image, while 2.0 would scale the image to twice it's current resolution. A value of
0.5 would halve the image's resolution.
Change Pixel Aspect

on.
Only Use Filter in HiQ

The Scale tool will normally use the fast Nearest Neighbor filter for any non-HiQ renders, where speed is
more important than full accuracy. Disable this checkbox to force Scale to always use the selected filter for all
renders.
Note
Because this tool changes the physical resolution of the image, we do not normally advise animating the
controls.
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Transform Tools
[Scl] Transform Tools
Scale
Filter Method
When rescaling a pixel, surrounding pixels are often used to give a more realistic result. There are various al-
gorithms for combining these pixels, called filters. More complex filters can give better results, but are usually
slower to calculate. The best filter for the job will often depend on the amount of scaling and on the contents
of the image itself.
Nearest Neighbor
Box
Linear
Quadratic
Cubic
Catmull-Rom
Gaussian
Mitchell
Catmull-Rom.
Lanczos
Sinc
some situations.
Bessel
Window Method
Hanning
Hamming
Blackman
Kaiser
Example

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Transform Tools
[Xf] Transform Tools
Transform
Description:
The Transform tool can be used for simple 2D tranformations of the image, such as moving, rotating and scaling. The image's aspect can also be modified using the Transform tool.
The Transform tool concatenates its result with adjacent transformation tools. For more information on concatenation, consult the Transformations chapter.
Controls Tab
Flip Horizontally And Vertically

Toggle this control on to flip the image along the X or Y axis.
Edges
Edges determines how the edges of the image will be treated.
Canvas
This causes the edges of the image that are revealed to show the current Canvas Color. This defaults to black
with no Alpha and can be set using the Set Canvas Color tool.
Wrap
This wraps the edges of the image around the borders of the image. This is useful for seamless images to be
panned, creating an endless moving background image.
Duplicate
This causes the edges of the image to be duplicated as best as possible, continuing the image beyond its
original size.
Center X And Y
This sets the position of the image on the screen. The default is 0.5, 0.5, which places the image in the center
of the screen. The value shown is always the actual position multiplied by the reference size. See below for a
description of the reference size.
Pivot X And Y
This positions the axis of rotation and scaling. The default is 0.5, 0.5, which is the center of the image.
Use Size And Aspect

This checkbox determines whether the Transform tool provides independent Size controls for the X and Y
scale, or if Size and Aspect controls are used instead.
Size
This modifies the Size, or scale, of the image. Values range from 0 to 5, but any value greater than zero can
be entered into the edit box. If the Use Size And Aspect checkbox is selected, this control will scale the image
equally along both axis. If the Use Size And Aspect option is off, independent control is provided for X and Y.
Aspect
This control changes the Aspect Ratio of an image. Setting the value above 1.0 stretches the image along the
X axis. Values between 0.0 and 1.0 stretch the image along the Y axis. This control is available only when the
Use Size And Aspect checkbox is enabled.
Angle
This control rotates the image around the axis. Increasing the Angle rotates the image in a counter-clockwise
direction. Decreasing the Angle rotates the image in a clockwise direction.
Invert Transform
Select this control to Invert any position, rotation or scaling transformation. This option is useful when
connecting the Transform to the position of a tracker for the purpose of re-introducing motion back into a
stabilized image.
Flatten Transform
The Flatten Transform option prevents this tool from concatenating its transformation with adjacent tools. The
tool may still concatenate transforms from its input but it will not concatenate its transformation with the tool
at its output. See the Transformations chapter earlier in this manual for details on concatenated transformati-
on.
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Transform Tools
Transform
Reference Size
The controls under the Reference Size reveal do not directly affect the image. Instead they allow you to con-
trol how Fusion represents the position of the Transform tools center.
Normally co-ordinates are represented as values between 0 and 1, where 1 is a distance equal to the full
width or height of the image. This allows for resolution independence, because you can change the size of the
image without having to change the value of the center.
One disadvantage to this approach is that it complicates making pixel accurate adjustments to an image.
To demonstrate, imagine an image that is 100 by 100 pixels in size. To move the center of the image to the
right by 5 pixels, we would change the X value of the transform center from 0.5, 0.5 to 0.55, 0.5. We know the
change must be 0.05 because 5/100 = 0.05.
The reference size controls allow you to specify the dimensions of the image. This changes the way the control
values are displayed, so that the Center shows the actual pixel positions in the X and Y fields of the center
control. Extending our example, if you set the Width and Height to 100 each, the center would now be shown
as 50, 50, and we would move it 5 pixels toward the right by entering 55, 50.
Internally the Transform tool still stores this value as a number between 0 to 1, and if you were to query the
center controls value via scripting, or publish the center control for use by other tools then you would retrieve
the original normalized value. The change is only visible in the value shown for transform center in the tool
control.

Select this to force the merge to use the compositions current frame format settings to set the Reference
Width and Reference Height values.
Reference Width and Height Sliders

Set these to the width and height of the image to change the way that Fusion displays the values of the trans-
form tools center control.
Filter Method
Nearest Neighbor
Box
Linear
Quadratic
Cubic
Catmull-Rom
Gaussian
Mitchell
Catmull-Rom.
Lanczos
Sinc
some situations.
Bessel
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Transform Tools
Transform
Window Method
Hanning
Hamming
Blackman
Kaiser
Example

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Warp Tools
Co-ordinate Space Corner Positioner Dent Displace Drip
Grid Warp Lens Distort Perspective Positioner Vector Distortion Vortex

Warp Tools
[CdS] Warp Tools
Co-ordinate Space
Description:
The Co-ordinate Space tool changes the coordinate space of the image at its input from Rectangular to Polar or from Polar to Rectangular.
Controls Tab
Select between Rectangular to Polar and Polar to Rectangular. Consider the following example to demonstrate
the two coordinate spaces.
Example
To demonstrate a basic tunnel effect that can be achieved with this tool,
*create some text and animate it to move along a path from the top of the frame to the bottom.
*Connect the output of the Text+ tool to a Coordinate Space tool.
*Select Polar to Rectangular from the Shape menu.
As the text moves from top to bottom along the original path, it will appear to move from an infinite distance
in the Coordinate Space tool.
It may be necessary to flip the text using the Transform (Xf) tool to make it appear the correct way in the
Coordinate Space tool.
Another common use for the Co-ordinate Space tool is to use it in pairs, two of them set to different Shape
settings with a Drip or Transform tool in between. When used in this way, the effect gets modified while the
image remains the same.
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Warp Tools
[CPn] Warp Tools
Corner Positioner
Description:
The Corner Positioner can be used to interactively position the four corners of an image. This would typically be used this to replace a sign or other rectangular portion of a scene. Connect all
corners to Paths or Trackers for animation purposes.
Controls Tab
Mapping Type
This determines the method used to project the image caused by the Corner Positioner. In Bi-Linear mode,
a straight 2d warping takes place. In Perspective mode, the image is calculated with the offsets in 2d space
and then mapped into a 3d perspective.
Corners X And Y
There are four points in the Corner Positioner. Click-drag these around to position each corner of the image
interactively. Attach these control points to any of the usual modifiers.
The image input will be deformed and perspective corrected to match the position of the four corners.
Offset X And Y
These controls can be used to offset the position of the corners slightly. Useful when the corners are attached
to trackers with patterns that may not be positioned exactly where they are needed.
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Warp Tools
[Dnt] Warp Tools
Dent
Description:
The Dent function creates a circular deformation of an image similar to a fish eye lens effect, with the choice of six different Dent filters.
Controls Tab
Type
Select the type of Dent filter to use from this menu. All parameters for Dent are animatable
Dent 1
This creates a bulge dent.
Kaleidoscope
This creates a dent, mirrors, and inverts it.
Dent 2
This creates a displacement dent.
Dent 3
This creates a deform dent.
Cosine Dent
This creates a fracture to a center point.
Sine Dent
This creates a smooth rounded dent.
Center X And Y
This positions the Center of the Dent effect on the image. The default values are 0.5, 0.5, which center the
effect in the image.
Size
This changes the Size of the area affected by the dent. Animate this slider to make the Dent grow.
Strength
This changes the overall Strength of the Dent.
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Warp Tools
[Dsp] Warp Tools
Displace
Description:
This tool uses a map image to displace or refract another image. This is useful for creating a vast range of effects from bevels and heat distortion to glass and water effects.
Controls Tab
Type
The type buttons can choose in what mode the displace tool operates. The Radial mode uses the map image
that refracts each pixel out from the center, while X/Y mode provides control over the amount of displacement
along each axis individually.
Note that there is one set of refraction controls while in Radial mode, and two sets in XY mode, one for each
of the X and Y channels.
Center (Radial only)

The center control defines the point from which pixels are displaced towards or away from.
Refraction Channel
This array of buttons controls which Channel from the foreground image is used to displace the image. Select
from Red, Green, Blue, Alpha or Luminance channels. In XY mode, this control appears twice, once for the X
displacement and once for the Y displacement.
Refraction Strength (Radial)

Controls the strength of the refraction. Higher values cause stronger or more pronounced refraction.
X And Y Refraction (X / Y)
Two separate sliders appear to control the Refraction strength along the X and Y axes separately. Otherwise,
this is exactly like refraction strength.
Light Power
This controls the intensity or strength of the simulated light, causing bright and dim areas to form according
to the contour of the refraction image. Higher values cause the bright and dim areas to be more pronounced.
Light Angle
This sets the angle of the simulated light source.
Spread
This widens the displacement effect and takes the edge off the refraction map. Higher values cause the ridges
or edges spread out.
Light Channel
Select the channel from the refraction image that will be used as the simulated light source. Select from Color,
Red, Green, Blue, Alpha or Luminance channels.
Note
The Radial mode pushes pixels inwards or outwards from a center point, based on pixel values from the
displacement map. The XY mode uses two different channels from the map to displace pixels horizontally and
vertically, allowing more precise results. Using the XY mode the Displace tool can even accomplish simple
morphing effects.The Light controls allow directional highlighting of refracted pixels, for simulating a bevelled
look.
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Warp Tools
[Drp] Warp Tools
Drip
Description:
The Drip function creates a ripple effect over the entire image, which has the potential to animate outward from a central source. There are a variety of different Drip effects from which to
choose.
Controls Tab
Shape
Use this control to select the shape of the Drip.
Circular
This creates circular ripples. This is the default Drip mode.
Square
This creates even-sided quadrilateral drips.
Random
This creates randomly dispersed noise that distorts your image. Similar to a particle effect.
Horizontal
This creates horizontal waves that move in one direction.
Vertical
This creates vertical waves that move in one direction.
Exponential
This creates a Drip effect that looks like a diamond shape with inverted, curved sides (an exponential curve
flipped and mirrored).
Star
This creates an eight-way symmetrical star-shaped ripple that acts like a kaleidoscope when the phase is
animated.
Radial
This creates a star-shaped ripple that emits from a fixed pattern.
Center X And Y
Use this control to position the center of the Drip effect in the image. The default is 0.5, 0.5, which centers the
effect in the image.
Aspect
Control the Aspect Ratio of the various drip shapes. A value of 1.0 causes the shapes to be symmetrical. Smal-
ler values cause the shape to be taller and narrower, while larger values cause shorter and wider shapes.
Amplitude
The Amplitude of the Drip effect refers to the peak height of each ripple. Use the slider to change the amount
of distortion the Drip applies to the image. A value of 0.0 gives all ripples no height and, therefore, makes the
effect transparent. A maximum amplitude of 10 makes each ripple extremely visible and completely distorts
the image. Higher numbers can be entered via the text entry boxes.
Dampening
Controls the Dampening, or falloff, of the Amplitude as it moves away from the center of the effect. It can be
used to limit the size or area affected by Drip.
Frequency
This changes the number of ripples emanating from the center of the Drip effect. A value of 0.0 indicates that
there will be no ripples. Move the slider up to a value of 100, to correspond with the density of desired ripples.
Phase
This controls the offset of the frequencies from the center. Animate the Phase value to make the ripple emana-
te from the center of the effect.
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Warp Tools
[Grd] Warp Tools
Grid Warp
Description:
The Grid Warp tool is a simple 2D deformation grid with flexible vertices. The image will be deformed so that the Source Grid matches the Destination Grid. See the Grid Warp tools chapter
for additional information.
Controls Tab
Source And Destination
The Source and Destination buttons determine whether the Source grid or Destination grid is currently active.
Only one grid can be displayed or manipulated at a time. The selected button will be highlighted to indicate
that is the active grid at the moment.
All of the other controls in this tab affect the grid selected by this control.
Selection Type
These three buttons determine the selection types used for manipulating the points. There are three options
available.
Selected
When in selected mode adjustments to the grid will be applied only to the currently selected points. This
mode is identical to normal polyline operation.
Region
In region mode, all points within the area around the mouse pointer when the left mouse button is clicked
will move. New points that enter the region during the move will be ignored. Choosing this option will expose
Magnet Distance and Magnet Strength controls to determine the size and falloff of the area.
Magnetic
In Magnetic mode, all points within the area around the mouse pointer when the left mouse button is clicked
will move. New points that enter the region during the move will be affected as well. Choosing this option will
expose Magnet Distance and Magnet Strength controls to determine the size and falloff of the area.
Magnet Distance
The default tool for selecting and manipulating the grid is a magnet tool. The magnet is represented in the
display view by a circle around the mouse pointer. The Magnet Distance slider controls how large the region
of affect for the magnet is, as in the size of the circle. Click-drag on the grid and any vertex within the range of
the slider will move.
To increase the size of the magnet, increase the value of this slider. Alternately, adjust the size of the magnet
by holding down the D key while click-dragging the mouse.
Magnet Strength
The Magnet Strength slider will increase or decrease the falloff of the magnet cursor's effect. At a setting of
0.0, the magnetic cursor has no effect, and vertices will not move at all. As the values increase, the magnet
causes a greater range of motion in the selected vertices. Use smaller values for a more sensitive adjustment
and larger values for broad-sweeping changes to the grid.
X and Y Grid Size

The X and Y Grid Size sliders control the number of divisions in the grid. Where the X and Y divisions intersect,
a control vertex is created.
Be aware that changing either of these controls after applying changes in the grid will reset the entire grid. Set
the X and Y grid sizes to the appropriate resolution before making serious detailed adjustments to the grid.
Subdivision Level
The Subdivision Level determines how many subdivisions there are between each set of divisions. Subdivisions
do not generate vertices at intersections. The more subdivisions there are, the smoother the deformation is
likely to be (and the slower it will be to render the deformation).
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Warp Tools
[Grd] Warp Tools
Grid Warp
Center
The Center coordinates determine the exact center of the grid. The onscreen center control is invisible while
editing the grid. Select to Edit Rect mode and grid center becomes visible and available for editing.
Use the center control to move the grid through a scene without affecting the animation applied to the
individual vertices. For example, while deforming lips on a face, track the motion of the face with a tracker and
connect the grid center to the tracker. This matches the grid with slight movements of the head while focus-
sing on the deformation of the lips.
Angle
This Angle control rotates the entire grid.
Size
The Size control increases or decreases the scale of the grid.
Edit Buttons
There are four edit modes available, each of which can be selected by clicking on the appropriate button.
Edit None
Set the grid to Edit None mode to disable the display of all onscreen controls.
Edit Grid
The Edit Grid mode is the default mode. While this mode is enabled, the grid is drawn in the display view and
the control vertices of the grid can be manipulated directly.
Edit Rectangle
When the grid is in Edit Rectangle mode, the onscreen controls display a rectangle that determines the di-
mensions of the grid. The sides of the rectangle can be adjusted to increase or decrease the grid's dimension.
This mode also reveals the onscreen center control for the grid.
Edit Line
The Edit Line mode is extremely useful for creating grids around organic shapes. When this mode is enabled,
all onscreen controls will disappear and a spline can be drawn around the shape or object to be deformed.
While drawing the spline, a grid is automatically created that best represents that object. Additional controls
for Tolerance, Over Size and Snap Distance appear when this mode is enabled. These controls are documen-
ted below.
Set Mesh To Entire Image

The Set Mesh To Entire Image button automatically resets the size of the grid to the exact dimensions of the
image. Any adjustments to vertices within the grid will be reset.
Copy Buttons
These two buttons provide a technique for copying the exact shape and dimensions of the source grid to the
destination, or the destination grid to the source. This is particularly useful after setting the source grid to
ensure that the destination grid's initial state matches the source grid before beginning a deformation.
Point Tolerance
This control is only visible when the edit line mode is enabled. The Point Tolerance slider determines how
much tesselation the grid will apply to closely match the density of points in the spline. The lower this value,
the less vertices there will be in the resulting grid and the more uniform the grid will appear. Higher values will
start applying denser grids with variations to account for regions in the spline that require more detail.
Oversize Amount
This control is only visible when the edit line mode is enabled. The Oversize Amount slider is used to set how
large an area around the spline should be included in the grid. Higher values create a larger border, which can
be useful when blending a deformation back into the source image.
Snap Distance
This control is only visible when the edit line mode is enabled. The Snap Distance slider dictates how strongly
the drawn spline will attract surrounding vertices. If a vertex is close enough to a spline's edge, the vertex will
move to line up with the spline. The higher the value, the further the reach of the spline.
Right-Click Here For Mesh Animation

The grids are static by default. Right-clicking on the Right-Click Here For Mesh Animation label will provide a
context menu with options for animating the grid or connecting it to another grid in the composition.
The grid uses a polychange spline. Any adjustment to any of the control points will add or modify the key-
frame for all points to the polychange spline.
Right-Click Here For Shape Animation

This label only appears in the edit line mode. Right-clicking on the Right-Click Here For Shape Animation label
will reveal a context menu that can be used to animate the shaping polyline or to connect it to other polylines
in the composition.
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Warp Tools
[Grd] Warp Tools
Grid Warp
Render Tab
Render Method
The Render Method drop-down menu is used to select the rendering technique and quality applied to the
mesh. The three settings are arranged in order of quality, with the first (wire frame) as the fastest and lowest of
quality. The default mode is Render, which produces final resolution, full quality results.
Anti-Aliasing
The Anti-Aliasing control is a checkbox in wireframe render mode.
It is otherwise a drop-down menu with three levels of quality. Higher degrees of anti-aliasing improve image
quality dramatically but vastly increase render times. The Low setting may be an appropriate option while
setting up a large dense grid, or previewing a flow, but almost never for a final render.
Filter Type
The Area Sample control is only visible when the render mode is not set to Wireframe. Checked by default,
disabling this checkbox prevents the grid from calculating area samples for each vertex in the grid. Area sam-
pling vastly improves render quality at the cost of speed.
Wireframe Width
This control only appears when the Render Method is set to wireframe. It determines the width of the lines
that make up the wireframe.
Anti-aliased
This control only appears when the Render Method is set to wireframe. Use this checkbox to enable/disable
antialiasing for the lines that make up the wireframe.
Black Background
The Black Background checkbox determines whether pixels outside of the grid in the source image will be set
to black or if they will be preserved.
Object ID And Material ID

Enable the Object ID or Material ID checkboxes to have the grid output the proper ID channel in the final
render.
Set Image Co-ordinates at Subdivision Level

Checkbox, Defaults to On.
Force Destination Render

Checkbox, Defaults to On.

Warp Tools
[Grd] Warp Tools
Grid Warp
Right Click Menu
The grid warp tool places a submenu for both source and destination grids in the display view's Context
Menu. Both menus have the exact same name, where only the menu for the active grid is populated with
options. The other menu is empty. The context menu options are all available from the toolbar that appears in
the display view.
Modify Only/Done
These two options set the mesh to modify only and done modes, respectively. Select Modify Only to edit the
mesh or Modify Done to prevent any further changes to a mesh.
Smooth/Linear
Use Smooth and Linear to apply or remove smoothing from selected vertices.
Auto Smooth Points

When Auto Smooth Points is enabled, the vertices in the grid will automatically be smoothed whenever they
are moved. This is generally on by default.
Z Under/Z Same/Z Over

When two vertices in a grid overlap, one ends up getting clipped by the other. Z Under, Z Same and Z Over
are used to select which vertices are rendered on top and which are rendered behind.
Select All
This option will Select All points in the mesh.
Show Key Points, Handles, Grid and Subdivisions

Use these four options to enable or disable the display of the grid, key points (vertices), Bezier handles and
subdivisions in the display views.
Reset Selected Points

Reset Selected Points (vertices) to their default positions.
Reset All Points

This will Reset All Points (vertices) in the mesh to their default positions.
Stop Rendering
This option will enable Stop Rendering, which disables all rendering of the grid warp tool until the mode is
turned off. This is frequently useful when making a series of fine adjustments to a complex grid.
Screen Controls
Whenever the grid warp tool is selected and is in edit grid mode, the grid warp toolbar is displayed in the
views. This toolbar provides a variety of options for manipulating and adjusting the grid. The Toolbar Buttons
in this toolbar are described above in the context menu.

Warp Tools
[Lens] Warp Tools
Lens Distort
Description:
This tool can be used to remove or add lens distortion in an image. The amount and type of Lens distortion in an image depends on a variety of factors such as the actual lens that has been
used,
the quality and amount of lensgroups in that lens, adjustments like shift lenses and much more.
One reason to remove lens distortion is to comp an undistorted layer, as for example a 3d rendering, on top of a distorted layer, as for example a real world camera shoot. When combining
the layers without removing the lens distortion, unwanted effects like straight lines not matching up on foreground and background will occur. The resulting composite will not look believable.
In a typical workflow one would apply the LensDistort in undistort mode to the original layer, add the 3d elements, do all other compositing work and finally apply LensDistort again with
exactly the same settings, but this time in Distort mode to get the original look and distortion back into the image. Please continue reading below.
Controls Tab
Mode
Undistort removes the lensdistortion to create a flattened image.

Distort brings the original lensdistortion back into the image.
Edges
Determines how samples that fall outside of the frame are treated.
Canvas:
Pixels outside the frame are set to the default canvas color. In most cases this is black with no alpha.
Duplicate:
Pixels outside the frame are duplicated. This results in smeared edges, but is useful when e.g. applying a blur,
because black pixels would in that case result in unwanted blurring between the actual image and the black
canvas.
Clipping Mode
Domain
Retains all pixels that might be moved out of the frame for later re-distoring.
Frame
Pixels moved outside the frame will be discarded.
Output Distortion Map

Outputs the location of pixels as a warped screen-coordinate map.
Camera Settings
The options known from the Camera3D are duplicated here.
They can either be set manually or connected to an already existing Camera3D.
Lens Distortion Model

Select the appropriate 3D equalizer lens distortion model here.
3DE Classic Model, 3DE4 Anamorphic, 3DE4 Radial Fishey or 3DE4 Radial
Please consult the 3D equalizer manual for further explanation.
The sliders in the 3DE Classic LD Model are most likely best suited for manually applying (un)distortion,
without having imported lens data.
Supersampling [HiQ]
Sets the number of samples used to determine each destination pixel.
As always, higher supersampling leads to higher render times.
11 bilinear is usually of sufficient quality, but with high lens distortion near the edges of the lens there will be
noticable differences to higher settings.
Supersampling Mode [HiQ]

The type of sample done for each supersample.
Nearest will lead to a crisper but more aliased image. Bilinear will give a blurrier result.
Load Distortion Data

Allows to load a lens distortion profile, created for example by 3D equalizer.
How to manually determine Lens Distortion

In the ideal world, one would have exact lens-parameters from each lens that was used during the shoot and
could use those values to undistort the image.
However, in the real world those parameters have not been taken on set or dont match.
Another approach is to use a software like e.g. 3DEqualizer which analyzes the footage and delivers a dataset
which can be imported into the LensDistort tool right away.
And finally one could try to manually eyeball the amount of lens distortion using the control sliders. To do
that one could either look out for horizontal or vertical lines in the footage that are supposed to be straight
and straighten them out using the controls, or shoot a full frame checkerboard pattern on set as a reference.
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Warp Tools
[PPn] Warp Tools
Perspective Positioner
Description:
The Perspective Positioner is the complementary tool to the Corner Positioner tool. By positioning corner points on an image and moving them, it is possible to remove the perspective from
an image.
This function can also be used to wobble and warp the image by animating the points over time.
Controls Tab
Corners X And Y
There are the four control points of the Perspective Positioner. Interactively drag these in the views to position
each corner of the image.
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Warp Tools
[Dst] Warp Tools
Vector Distortion
Description:
The Vector Distortion tool distorts the main source image along the X and Y axis separately, based on the vector channel data in the source image, or a channel from a second image, refe-
rence image.
Controls Tab
X Channel and Y Channel

Use these buttons to select which channel of the reference image will be used to distort the X and Y channels.
If no Distort reference image is connected to the second (green) input of the tool then channels from the
main input are used instead.
Flip X and Flip Y Channel

Use these checkboxes to flip the direction of the distortion along the specified axis.
Lock Scale X/Y

Select this checkbox to separate the Scale slider into separate Scale X and Scale Y sliders.
Scale
Use the scale slider to apply a multiplication to the values of the distortion reference image.
Lock Bias X/Y

Select this checkbox to separate the Bias slider into separate Bias X and Bias Y sliders.
Center Bias
Use the Center Bias slider to shift or nudge the distortion along a given axis.
Edges
The Edges buttons are used to set how the tool deals with pixels that reach the edge of the screen.
Glow
Use this slider to add a glow to the result of the vector distortion.
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Warp Tools
[Vtx] Warp Tools
Vortex
Description:
The Vortex effect appears as a swirling whirlpool in specified regions of the image. The Vortex can be made to move and grow by animating the various controls.
Controls Tab
Center X And Y
This control is used to position the center of the Vortex effect on the image. The default is 0.5, 0.5, which posi-
tions the effect in the center of the image.
Size
Change the area effected by the Vortex in the display window by dragging the circumference of the effect or
by using the Size slider.
Angle
Drag the rotation handle on the display or use the screw control to change the amount of rotations in the
Vortex. The higher the angle value, the greater the swirling effect.
Power
Increasing the Power slider makes the Vortex smaller but tighter. It effectively concentrates it inside the given
image area.
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Modifiers
Bezier Spline B-Spline Calculation Character Level Styling Circle
Clone Multistroke Comp Name Coordinate Transform 3D Copy Ellipse Copy Polyline
Copy Rectangle Cubic Spline Expression Fill Follower
From Image Gradient Color MIDI Extractor Multistroke Natural Cubic Spline
Offset Paint Group Path Perturb Polyline Stroke
Probe Publish Shake Stroke Text Scramble
Text Timer Time Code Track Vector X/Y Path

Modifiers
Bezier Spline B-Spline Calculation Character Level Styling Circle Modifier
Bezier Spline
Description:
The BezierSpline is one of the animation modifiers in Fusion and normally is applied to numerical values rather than point values.
It is applied by default each time you right clicking on a numerical control and select Animate
It can also be applied by right clicking on a numerical control and selecting Modify with -> Bezier Spline.
Usage
Being an animation spline this modifier has no actual controls tab.
However its effect can be seen and influenced in the Spline editor.
The Bezier Spline offer individual control over each point's smoothness by means of handles.
The smoothness can be applied by multiple ways.
To make the keys smooth select them and press Shift-S.
The handles can then be used to further modify the behaviour of in and out.
To make the keys linear select them and press Shift-L.
These operations can also be performed using the context menu.

Select the keyframe(s), right click and select Smooth or Linear.
The menu also allows to apply smoothing using a Savitzky-Golay filter.
Select the keyframe(s), right click and select Smooth Points -Y Dialog.
Ease In/Out can also be modified by using control slider.

Select the keyframe you want to modify, right click and select Ease In / Out... from the context menu.
Then used the sliders to individually control the Ease In/Out numerically.

Modifiers
B-Spline
Description:
The B-Spline is one of the animation modifiers in Fusion and normally is applied to numerical values rather than point values.
It can be applied by right clicking on a numerical control and selecting Modify with -> B-Spline.
Usage

Notice that, though the actual value of the second keyframe is 0, the value of the resulting spline is 0.33 due to the unique smoothing and weighing
algorhythms of a BSpline.
The weight can be modified by left clicking on the keyframe to select it, holding down w as well as the left mouse button and moving the mouse
to the left to lower the tension and to the right to increase the tension. This also can be done with multiple selected keyframes simultaneously.

Modifiers
Calculation
Description:
Calculations are used to create indirect connections between value controls. A calculation can perform a mathematical expression based on two operands, where each operand can be connec-
ted to another control or set manually by the user.
Additionally, the calculation control can access the values of a connected control at times other than the current time, using time offsets and time scale controls built into the Calculation Mo-
difier.
The most common use for a calculation is when two controls need to be connected to each other but the range or scope of the value's output by one control are inappropriate for the other
control.
Note that the Expression modifier is essentially a more flexible version of the Calculation modifier, with a single exception. It is far easier to manipulate the timing of the operands provided to
a Calculation than it is to do so with a Expression.
Calc Tab
First and Second Operand
These sliders are either connected to published or animated controls from other tools in the composition, or manually set to the desired values for
the calculation.
Operator
Select from the mathematical operations listed in this menu to determine how the two operands are combined. Clicking on the down arrow opens
the menu with the following options:
Time Tab
First and Second Operand Time Scale
These sliders cause the frame used to read the values of the Operands specified in the Calc tab to be scaled. A value of 1 returns the value of the
operand at frame x when the composition is set to frame x. For example, if the first operand is animated with a value of 1 to 10 from frame 0 to 10,
then a scale of 0.5 would cause the calculation to return a value of 5 at frame 10 (effectively slowing the animation by half for the purposes of the
calculation)
First Operand and Second Operand Time Offset

These sliders return the value of the Operand at the Time Offset specified. A value of 10 would return the value of the operand 10 frames forward in
time and -10 would return the value of the operand 10 frames back in time. See the example below for a practical example.
Example
The following example uses a calculation to apply blur to a text in inverse proportion to the size of the text.
*Create a new composition, and set the global start and render start to 1. Set the Global End and Render End to 100.
*Add a Text Plus tool to the composition
*Enter a small amount of text in the StyledText input.
*Make sure the current frame is 0
*Set the Size parameter of the text tool to a value of 0.06 at frame 0
*Right click on the Size slider and animate the slider by setting a key.
*Advance to frame 100 and set the value of the Size control to 0.50.
*Add a Blur tool immediately after the Text tool. Connect the Blur input to the text tools output.
*View the Blur tool in one of the display views.
*We want the blur to decrease in strength as the text gets bigger. The controls cannot be directly connected together because the values of the Text
Size control are getting bigger instead of smaller.
*Right-click on the Blur size and select Modify With>Calculation from the context menu. A new set of controls will appear in the Modifiers tab while
the Blur tool is selected.
*Switch to the Modifier tab (F11)
*Right-click on the First Operand slider. Select Connect To > Text 1 > Size from the context menu. This connection isn't very useful though - the
maximum value of the blur size control is 0.5, which is hardly noticable as a blur.
*Set the Operator drop down menu to Multiply.
*Set the Second Operand slider to 100
*Switch to the Time tab of the modifier and set the First Operand Time Scale to -1.0. Normally the First Operand will get the value of the control it is
connected to from the same frame as the current time. So at frame 10, the firt operand will be set to the same value as the Text size at frame 10. By
setting this value to -1, the value is read from one frame back in time whenever the current time of the composition advances by 1 frame.
*However, this means that the Calculation would be reading the value of the Text size at frame -10 when we are at frame 10 in the composition. To
correct for this, set the First Operand Time Offset slider to 100.
*Return to the Tools tab of the Tool Control Area (F9). Press play (spacebar) and watch how the value of the Blur Size relates to the value of the Text
Size.

Modifiers

Description:
The Character Level Styling modifier only works on Text+ tools. You can then select individual characters directly in your view and apply different text attributes to them.
Think of larger capitals at the beginning of each line, different fonts in one word, colored highlighting and more.
It can be applied by right clicking into the Styled Text field of a Text+ tool and selecting Character Level Styling.
Character Level Styling can only be directly applied to Text+ tools, not to Text 3D tools. However, styled text from a Text+ tool can be applied to a Text 3D tool by means of copying the Text+,
right clicking on the Text 3D and choosing Paste Settings.
Text Tab
Text controls, Alignment, Transform and Shading Tab
Please have a look at the Text+ tool documentation.
Clear Character Styling on Selection

All changes made to the currently selected Characters will be reset
Clear all character styling

All character attributes will be reset to their original values.

Modifiers
Circle
Description:
The Circle only works on Paint tools.
Creates a circular shape with animatable control over radius and center.
It can be applied by clicking on Circle in the Paint tool's stroke menu.
Controls
Center
The Center of the circle.
Radius
The Radius of the circle.
Apply Mode
Please see the Apply Controls of the Paint tool
Color
The Color of the circle.
Opacity
The Opacity of the circle.

Modifiers
CloneMultistroke
Description:
The CloneMultistroke is pretty much like the normal Multistroke, but specifically meant to clone areas from one image to the other.
In addition to the Multistroke it has a Source Tool input, described further down.
Perfect for those 100-strokes-per-frame retouching paint jobs like removing tracking-markers e.g.
It can be applied by clicking on the CloneMultistroke button in the Paint tool's stroke menu.
Controls Tab
Not all of the controls described here appear in all modes. Certain controls are only useful in a specific paint mode and are hidden when they are not
applicable. Additionally, several of the controls are considered to be self-explanatory the purpose of a center control, angle or size control should be
relatively straightforward to determine.
To reduce complexity, these controls are not all described. For further details on the functionality of the Controls Tab, please see the Working With Paint
Strokes - Animating Strokes section in this chapter.
Brush Shape
Soft Brush
The Soft Brush type is a circular brush with soft edges. Modify the size of the brush in the display view by holding Ctrl down while dragging the mouse.
Circular Brush
Image Brush
The Image Brush allows images from any tool in the flow, or from a file system, to be used as a brush. See Creating Custom Brushes later in this chapter.
Single Pixel Brush

The Single Pixel Brush is perfect for fine detail work, creating a brush exactly one pixel in size. No anti-aliasing is applied to the single pixel brush.
Square Brush
Vary Size
Constant
With Pressure
With Velocity
Vary Opacity
Constant
With Pressure
With Velocity
Softness
Image Source
Tool
The image source is derived from the output of a tool on the flow. Drag the tool into the source Tool input to set the source.
Clip
The image source is derived from an image or sequence on disk. Any file supported by Fusion's loader can be used. Locate the file using the filename Clip
browser that appears to set the clip used as a source.
Brush
Images stored in the Fusion>Brushes directory are used as a brush for the paint tool. Select the brush from a the menu that appears.

Modifiers
CloneMultistroke
Apply Controls
Apply Mode
Color
The Color apply mode paints simple colored strokes on the screen. When used in conjunction with an image brush, it can also be used to tint the brush.
Clone
The Clone apply mode copies portions of one image into another image, or to clones from the same image using adjustable positions and time offsets.
Any image from the flow can be used as the source image.
Emboss
Erase
Erase reveals the underlying image through all other strokes, effectively erasing portions of the strokes beneath it with out actually destroying the stro-
kes.
Merge
This apply mode effectively Merges the brush onto the image. This mode behaves in much the same way as the color apply mode but has no color cont-
rols. It is best suited for use with the image brush type.
Smear
Stamp
Stamp the brush onto the image, completely ignoring any alpha channel or transparency information. This mode is best suited for applying decals to the
target image.
Wire
This Wire removal mode is used to remove wires, rigging and other small elements in the frame by sampling adjacent pixels and drawing them in toward
the stroke.
Source Tool
Shows which tool's image output is used to clone from.
Stroke Controls
Size
This control adjusts the Size of the brush when the brush type is set to either soft brush or circle. The diameter of the brush is drawn in the display view
as a small circle surrounding the mouse pointer. The size can also be adjusted interactively in the display view by holding the Ctrl key while click-dragging
the mouse pointer.
Spacing
The Spacing slider determines the distance between blats (samples used to draw a straight line along the underlying vector shape that composes a stroke
or polyline stroke). Increasing the value of this slider increases the density of the stroke, whereas decreasing the value is likely to cause the stroke to as-
sume the appearance of a dotted line.
Stroke Animation
The Stroke Animation menu control provides several pre-built animation effects that can be applied to a paint stroke. This menu only appears for Vector
strokes.
All Frames
This default displays the stroke for All Frames of the project where a valid target image is available to the paint tool.
Limited Duration
Write On
When Write On is selected, an animation spline will be added to the paint stroke that precisely duplicates the timing of the paint stroke's creation. The
stroke will be written on the image exactly as it was drawn. To adjust the timing of the write on effect, switch to the spline editor and use the timestret-
cher mode to adjust the overall length of the animation spline. To smooth or manually adjust the motion, try reducing the points in the animation spline.
Write Off
Write Off will perform the reverse of write on, drawing the stroke starting from the end and working backward to the start of the stroke.
Write On Then Off

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Modifiers
CloneMultistroke
Trail
Selecting the Trail mode will cause both the start and end points of the stroke to be animated simultaneously, offset from each other by the amount spe-
cified in the duration control. This has the effect of creating a segment of the stroke that follows the stroke as if it were a path. As with the write on and
off effects, this will start at the frame that is current when the animation mode is selected. The timing of the animation can be adjusted manually using
the spline or timeline editors.
Duration
Duration sets the duration of each stroke in frames. This control is only present for Multistrokes or when the stroke animation mode is set to Limited
Duration. It is most commonly employed for frame-by-frame rotoscoping through a scene.
Note
Each Vector stroke applied to a scene will have a duration in the timeline that can be trimmed independently from one stroke to the next. The duration
can be set to 0.5, which will allow each stroke to last for a single field only when the flow is processing in fields mode.

This range slider appears when the Stroke Animation is set to one of the Write On and Write Off methods. The range represents the beginning and end
points of the stroke. Drag the low value upward to give the impression that the stroke is being erased, or drag the high value from 0.0 to 1.0 to give the
impression that the stroke is being drawn on the screen. This control can be animated to good effect. It works most effectively when automatically ani-
mated through the use of the Write On, Write Off modes of the stroke animation menu.
Make Editable
This button only appears for Vector strokes.. Clicking on 'Make Editable' turns the current stroke into a polyline spline so that the shape can be adjusted
or animated.
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Modifiers
Comp Name
Description:
The Comp Name only works on Text+ tools.
It sets the Styled text to become the current Composition Name.
This is quite useful to automate burn-ins for daily renderings.
See also the TimeCode modifier.
It can be applied by right clicking into the Styled text fiel of a Text+ tool and selecting Comp Name.
Controls
This modifier has no controls
Please have a look at the Text+ tool documentation.

Modifiers
Coordinate Transform 3D
Description:
Because of the hierarchical nature of the Fusion 3D flow, the original position of an object in the 3D scene often fails to indicate the current position of the object. For example, an image plane
might
initially have a position at 1, 2, 1, but then be scaled, offset, and rotated by other tools furtherdownstream in the 3D scene, ending up with an absolute location of 10, 20, 5.
This can complicate connecting an object further downstream in the composition directly to the position of an upstream object. The Co-ordinate Transform modifier can be added to any set
of XYZ
co-ordinate controls, and will calculate the current position of a given object at any point in the scene hierarchy.
To add a Co-ordinate Transform Modifier, simply right click on the a numeric input on any tool, and select 'Modify With / CoordTransform Position' from the controls context menu
Controls Tab
Target Object
This control should be connected to the 3D tool which produces the original co-ordinates to be
transformed. To connect a tool, drag and drop a tool tile from the flow into the text edit control, or right
click on the control and select the tool from the context menu. It is also possible to type the tools name
directly into the control.
Sub-ID
The SubID slider can be used to target an individual sub-element of certain types of geometry, such as
an individual character produced by a Text 3D tool, or a specific copy created by a Duplicate 3D tool.
Scene Input
This control should be connected to the 3D tool which outputs the scene containing the object at the
new location. To connect a tool, drag and drop a tool tile from the flow into the text edit control, or right click on the control and select an object
from the Connect To pop-up menu.

Modifiers
Copy Ellipse
Description:
The Copy Ellipse only works on Paint tools.
It creates an elliptical shape to clone elements from one area of the image to the other.
It can be applied by clicking on the Copy Ellipse button in the Paint tool's stroke menu.
Controls
Center X Y
The Center of the Ellipse. Move this control to determine where the content will be copied to.
Image
The Source will be used to copy content to the destination.
Fill
The Fill color will be used to create a plain fill on the destination.
Source Center X Y
The Center of the Source Ellipse. Move this control to determine where the content will be copied from.
Activate Show Source to see the on screen controls.
Width / Height Sliders

The Width and Height of the ellipse. This can also be modified with the on screen controls
Angle
The Rotation of the ellipse. This can also be modified with the on screen controls
Size
The overall Size of the ellipse. This is a multiplier to the Width and Height settings.
Softness
The Softness of the edge of the ellipse.
Opacity
The overall opacity of the output.
Flip Horiz / Flip Vert

The area inside the ellipse will be flipped horizontally and/or vertically.
Show Source
Show the on screen controls to adjust the position of the source Ellipse.
Apply Mode

Modifiers
Copy Polyline
Description:
The Copy Polyline only works on Paint tools.
It creates a user definable Polyline to clone elements from one area of the image to the other.
See the Polylines_and_Rotoscoping chapter of this manual.
It can be applied by clicking on the Copy Polyline button in the Paint tool's stroke menu.
Controls
Center X Y
The Center of the Polyline. Move this control to determine where the content will be copied to.
Image
Fill
Source Center X Y
The Center of the Source Polyline. Move this control to determine where the content will be copied from.

The Width and Height of the Polyline. This can also be modified with the on screen controls
Angle
The Rotation of the Polyline. This can also be modified with the on screen controls
Size
The overall Size of the Polyline. This is a multiplier to the Width and Height settings.
Softness
The Softness of the edge of the Polyline.
Opacity

The area inside the Polyline will be flipped horizontally and/or vertically.
Show Source
Show the on screen controls to adjust the position of the source Polyline.
Apply Mode

Modifiers
Copy Rectangle
Description:
The Copy Rectangle only works on Paint tools.
It creates a user definable Rectangle to clone elements from one area of the image to the other.
It can be applied by clicking on the Copy Rectangle button in the Paint tool's stroke menu.
Controls
Center X Y
The Center of the Rectangle. Move this control to determine where the content will be copied to.
Image
Fill
Source Center X Y
The Center of the Source Rectalangel. Move this control to determine where the content will be copied from.

The Width and Height of the Rectangle. This can also be modified with the on screen controls
Angle
The Rotation of the Rectangle. This can also be modified with the on screen controls
Size
The overall Size of the Rectangle. This is a multiplier to the Width and Height settings.
Softness
The Softness of the edge of the Rectangle.
Opacity

The area inside the Rectangle will be flipped horizontally and/or vertically.
Show Source
Show the on screen controls to adjust the position of the source Rectangle.
Apply Mode

Modifiers
Cubic Spline
Description:
The Cubic Spline is one of the animation modifiers in Fusion and normally is applied to numerical values rather than point values.
It can be applied by right clicking on a numerical control and selecting Modify with -> Natural Cubic Spline.
Usage
However it's effect can be seen and influenced in the Spline editor.

Modifiers
Expression
Description:
Adding an Expression modifier to a control will add the ability to control and manipulate either position or value controls based on any number of controls, either positional or value-based.
This modifier offers exceptional flexibility compared to the more limited Calculation or Offset modifiers, but it is unable to access values from frames other than the current time.
An Expression will accept up to nine value inputs and nine position inputs that are used as part of a user-defined mathematical expression to output a value.
To add an Expression to a control, right-click on the control and choose Modify With -> Expression from the context menu. The type of value that will be returned by the expression entirely
depends on the type of control it is modifying.
When used with a value control (like a slider), the expression in the Number Out tab will be evaluated to create the result. When used to modify a positional control (like a tool's center), the
Point Out tab will control the result.
The Modifiers view contains the controls for the Expression modifier. Its controls are described below.
Controls Tab
This tab provides nine number controls, and nine point controls.
The values of the number controls can be referred to in an expression as n1 through n9.
The X-coordinate of each point control can be referred to as p1x through p9x, while the Y-coordinate is p1y through p9y.
These values can be set manually by the user, connected to other parameters, animated and even connected to other Expressions or Calculations.
Controls Tab

Modifiers
Expression
Number Out Tab

This enables a mathematical formula to be entered, which can access the values from both the Number In and the Point In tabs and output a value
used to modify the control to which the expression was applied.
See below for the syntax to use in this field.
Point Out Tab

Each one of the text boxes in this tab can contain a mathematical formula that can access the values from both the Number In and the Point In tabs
and output a value used to modify the control to which the expression was applied. The expression in the top text box control is used to calculate
the X-axis value and the bottom text box is used to calculate the Y-axis control.
See below for the syntax to use in this field.
Config Tab
A good expression can be re-used over and over again. As a result, it can be useful to provide more descriptive names for each input and to hide
the ones that are unused. The Config Tab of the expressions modifier is used to customize visibility and name for each of the nine point and num-
ber inputs.
Random Seed
The Random Seed control is used to seed the Rand() function. The rand(x, y) function produces a random value between X and Y, producing a new
value for every frame. As long as the setting of this random seed slider remains the same, the values produced at frame x will always be the same.
Adjust the seed slider to a new value to get a different value for that frame.
Show Number Or Point X
There are eighteen of these checkbox controls, one for each of the nine number and point inputs. Enable this checkbox to display the control for
Number x or Point x in the Controls tab.
Name For Number Or Point X

There are eighteen of these edit controls, one for each of the nine number and point inputs. Type a new name for the input into this edit control to
assign a new name for the input's label in the Controls tab.
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Modifiers
Expression
Expression Syntax / Formulas

Formulas are entered into the Number Out or Point Out tabs as part of expression. They can be made up of the following functions:
n1..n9 The value of Number Input 1..9.

p1x..p9x The X of Positional Control 1..9.
p1y..p9y The Y of Positional Control 1..9.
time The current time (frame number).
pi The value of pi.
e The value of e.
log(x) The base-10 log of x.
ln(x) The natural (base-e) log of x.
sin(x) The sine of x (x is degrees).
cos(x) The cosine of x (x is degrees).
tan(x) The tangent of x (x is degrees).
asin(x) The arcsine of x, in degrees.
acos(x) The arccosine of x, in degrees.
atan(x) The arctangent of x, in degrees.
atan2(x, y) The arctangent of x,y, in degrees.
abs(x) The absolute (positive) value of x.
int(x) The integer (whole) value of x.
frac(x) The fractional value of x.
sqrt(x) The Square Root of x.
rand(x, y) A random value between x and y.
rands(x, y, s) A random value between x and y, based on seed s.
min(x, y) The minimum (lowest) of x and y.
max(x, y) The maximum (highest) of x and y.
dist(x1, y1, x2, y2) The distance between point x1,y2 and x2,y2.
dist3d(x1,y1,z1,x2,y2,z2) The distance between 3D points x1,y2,z1 and x2,y2,z2
noise(x) A smoothly varying Perlin noise value based on x
noise2(x, y) A smoothly varying Perlin noise value based on x and y
noise3(x, y, z) A smoothly varying Perlin noise value based on x, y and z
if(c, x, y) Returns x if c not 0, otherwise y.
Expression Syntax / Operators
Operators are used to evaluate statements. They are combined with functions to perform logical and mathematical calculations in the Number Out
and Point Out tabs.
x + y x plus y.
x - y x minus y.
x >= y 1.0 if x is less than y, otherwise 0.0.
x > y 1.0 if x is greater than y, otherwise 0.0.
!x 1.0 if x = 0, otherwise 0.0.
-x (0.0 - x).
+x (0.0 + x) (effectively does nothing).
x ^ y x raised to the power of y.
x * y x multiplied by y.
x / y x divided by y.
x % y x modulo y, (remainder of (x divided by y)).
x >= y 1.0 if x is less than or equal to y, otherwise 0.0.
x >= y 1.0 if x is greater than or equal to y, otherwise 0.0.
x = y 1.0 if x is exactly equal to y, otherwise 0.0.
x == y 1.0 if x is exactly equal to y, otherwise 0.0 (identical to above).
x <> y 1.0 if x is not equal to y, otherwise 0.0.
x != y 1.0 if x is not equal to y, otherwise 0.0 (identical to above).
x & y 1.0 if both x and y are not 0.0, otherwise 0.0.
x && y 1.0 if both x and y are not 0.0, otherwise 0.0 (identical to above).
x | y 1.0 if either x or y (or both) are not 0.0, otherwise 0.0.
x || y 1.0 if either x or y (or both) are not 0.0, otherwise 0.0 (identical to above).
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Modifiers
Expression
Examples
Example 1
To make a numeric control equal to the Y value of a motion path, add an expression to the desired target control and connect the Path to Point In 1.
Enter the formula
p1y
into the Number Out field.
Example 2
To make the result of the Expressions Number Out be the largest of Number In 1 and Number In 2, multiplied by the cosine of Number In 3, plus
the X coordinate of Point In 1, enter the formula
max(n1, n2) * cos(n3) + p1x
into the Number Out field.
Example 3
Add a Background tool set to solid black and a Hotspot tool. Set the Hotspot size to 0.08 and set the Strength to maximum. Modify the Hotspot
center with an Expression. Change the current frame to 0.
Set n1 to 0.0 and add a Bezier spline. At frame 29, set the value of n1 to 1.0. Select both points and loop the spline using the spline editor. Now
enter the following equations into the Point Out tab of the expression.
X-Axis Expression
n1
Y-Axis Expression
0.5 + sin(time*50) / 4
Render out a preview and have a look at the results. (Try this one with motion blur.)
1988-2014 eyeon software - www.eyeonline.com Examples 420

Modifiers
Fill
Description:
The Fill only works on Paint tools. It fills an area of the image with a user definable color.
From the way it works it can be compared with the Wand mask.
It can be applied by clicking on the Fill button in the Paint tool's stroke menu.
Controls
Selection Point
The Selection Point is a pair of X and Y coordinates that determine from where in the source image the fill derives its initial color sample. This control is
also seen as a crosshair in the display views. The selection point can be positioned manually, connected to a tracker, path or other expressions.
Color Space
The Color Space button group determines the color space used when selecting the source color for the mask. The fill can operate in RGB, YUV, HLS or LAB
color spaces.
Channel
The Channel button group is used to select whether the color that is masked comes from all three color channels of the image, the alpha channel, or from
an individual channel only.
The exact labels of the buttons will depend on the color space selected for the fill operation. If the color space is RGB, the options will be R, G or B. If YUV
is the color space, the options will be Y, U or V.
Range
The Range slider controls the range of colors around the source color that will be included in the fill. If the value is left at 0.0, only pixels of exactly the
same color as the source will be considered part of the file. The higher the value, the more that similar colors in the source will be considered to be wholly
part of the fill.
Range Soft Edge

The Range Soft Edge determines the falloff range of the colors selected. Any pixel within the range defined above will be treated as 100% for the fill. If the
soft range is set to 0.0, no other pixels will be considered for the fill. Increasing the soft range will increase the number of colors close to, but not quite
within, the range that will be included in the fill. These pixels will be semi-transparent in the fill.
Apply Mode

Modifiers
Follower
Description:
The Follower only works on Text+ tools.
This tool allows for a plethora of cool motion graphics effects.
The basic idea is that you animate the parameters of a single character and the other characters will follow that animation with a delay.
It can be applied by right clicking into the Styled text fiel of a Text+ tool and selecting Follower.
Timing Tab
Range
Allows to select if all characters should be influenced or only a selected range.
You can drag-select a range of characters directly on the screen.
Order
Determines in which order the Characters are influenced. Notice that empty spaces are counted as charater as well.
Available options are:
Left to right The animation ripples from left to right through all characters.
Right to left The animation ripples from right to left through all characters.
Inside out The animation ripples symmetrically from the centerpoint of the characters towards the margin.
Outside in The animation ripples symmetrically from the margin towards the centerpoint of the characters.
Random but one by one The animation is applied to randomly selected characters but only influences one character at a time.
Completely random The animation is applied to randomly selected characters influencing multiple characters at a time.
Manual curve The affected characters can be specified by sliders.
Delay Type
Determines what sort of delay is applied to the animation Available options are:
Between each Character The more characters there are in your text, the longer the animation will take to the end.
Between first and last character No matter how many characters are in your text, the animation will always be completed in the selected amount of time.
Clear all character styling

All character attributes will be reset to their original values.
Text controls, Alignement, Transform and Shading Tab

In these tabs the actual animation for the characters is done.
Observe that simply changing a value in these tabs will have no influence at all.
The value needs to be animated for the effect to show.
For a detailed description on the various parameters

please have a look at the Text+ tool documentation.
Example
Examine this example comp to get an idea about the Follower
F6_Comp_FollowerExample.rar

Modifiers
From Image
Description:
The From Image only works on Gradients, like e.g. the Gradient on a Background tool.
It takes samples of an image along a user definable line and creates a gradient from those samples.
It can be applied by right-clicking on a Gradient control and selecting From Image.
Controls
Image to scan
Drop the tool you want to be examined into this box.
Start X/Y, End X/Y

These two point controls define the start- end end-points of the line along which the samples are taken from the image defined in the Image to scan box.
The points can also be moved directly in the view.
Number of sample steps

Defines how many individual color samples are taken along the line.
You can also see the result of this setting when you look at the actual tool's gradient control.
The more sample steps you define here, the more individual points you will see on the gradient control.
It is also possible to first create a gradient using the From Image modifier and then remove that modifier from the gradient control again.
The created gradient will stay intact and can then be finetuned by hand.
Edges
Edges determines how the edges of the image will be treated when the sample line extends over the actual frame of the image to be sampled.
Black
This outputs black for every point on the sample line outside of the image bounds.
Wrap
This wraps the edges of the line around the borders of the image.
Duplicate
This causes the edges of the image to be duplicated as best as possible, continuing the image beyond its original size.
Color
Outputs a user-definable color instead of black for every point on the sample line outside of the image bounds.
Example
The source image on the left shows the color selection line in red.
The image on the right shows the resulting gradient from that selection.

Modifiers
GradientColorModifier
Description:
The Gradient Color modifier allows to control the value of a parameter. A gradient with customized values is mapped into a specific time range to control the value. If both time values are set
to 0, then the modifer returns the value at the starting point of the gradient. You can use the offset control to animate the gradient manually
It can be applied by right clicking onto a control and selecting Modify with -> GradientColorModifier .
Controls Tab
Gradient
The Gradient control consists of a bar where it is possible to add, modify and remove points of the gradient. Each point has its own color. It is possible to
animate the color as well as the postion of the point. Futhermore a From Image modifer can be applied to the gradient to evaluate it from an image.
Gradient Interpolation Method

The gradient is linear interpolated from point to point in RGB color space by default. This can result in unwanted colors sometimes. Choosing another
color space may provide a better result.
Repeat
Defines how the left and right border of the gradient is treated.
Gradients set to Once, Repeat and Ping Pong from top to bottom respectively and shifting the gradient to the left.
Once
When using the Gradient Offset control to shift the gradient the border colors will keep their values.
Shifting the default gradient to the left will result in a white border on the left,
shifting it to the right will result in a black border on the right.
Repeat
When using the Gradient Offset control to shift the gradient the border colors will be wrapped around.
Shifting the default gradient to the left will result in a sharp jump from white to black,
shifting it to the right will result in a sharp jump from black to white.
Ping Pong
When using the Gradient Offset control to shift the gradient the border colors ping pong back and forth.
Shifting the default gradient to the left will result in the edge fading from white back to black,
shifting it to the right will result in the edge fading from black back to white.
Gradient Offset
Allows you to pan through the gradient.
Time Controls
The Start Time and End Time screws determine the time range the gradient is mapped into.
This is set in frames.
The same effect can be achieved by setting the Gradient to Once and animating the offset screw.

Modifiers
MIDI Extractor
Description:
The MIDI Extractor Modifier provides the ability to modify the value of a control using the values stored in a MIDI file. Using the modifier relies on some knowledge of MIDI, which is outside of
the scope of this manual to describe in detail.
The value produced by the modifier is extracted from the MIDI event selected in the Mode menu. Each mode can be trimmed so only specific messages for that event are processed. For ex-
ample, only some notes are processed, while others are ignored. The value of the event can be further scaled or modified by additional factors, such as Scale, Velocity, Attack and Decay.
It can be applied by right-clicking on a control and selecting Modify with -> Midi Extractor.
Controls Tab
MIDI File
This browser control is used to specify the MIDI File that will be used as the input for the modifier.
Time Scale
Time Scale is used to specify the relationship between time as the MIDI file defines it and time as Fusion defines it. A value of 1.0 will play back the MIDI
events at normal speed, 2.0 at double speed, etc.
Time Offset
Time Offset adjusts the sync between the MIDI file's timing and Fusion's timing. If there is an unexpected delay or if the MIDI file should start part way into
or before some animation in Fusion, this control can be used to offset the MIDI data as required.
Result Offset, Result Scale

These sliders adjust the range of values produced by the modifier. By default, values between 0 and 1 (or -1 and 1 for PitchBend mode) are generated. This
will not always suit the tool/parameter and scale can be used to make this range larger (such as * 0.0 - 2.0). Offset is used to provide some constant value
as a base.
Result Curve
The Result Curve can also be used to adjust the output, however, this adjusts the curve of the result. By default, for any input MIDI data, the result will fall
linearly between 0.1 (for example, a velocity 127 note will generate 1.0, where 63 will generate approximately 0.5).
Result curve applies a gamma-like curve so that middle values can produce higher or lower results while still maintaining the full scale.
Mode
This menu provides Beat, Note, Control Change, Poly AfterTouch, Channel AfterTouch or Pitch Bend, indicating from which MIDI event the values are being
read. Beat mode is slightly different in that it produces regular pulses based on the tempo of the MIDI file (including any tempo maps).
The Beat mode does not actually use any specific messages. It bases its event timing on the tempo map contained in the MIDI file.
Combine Events
This menu selects what will happen when multiple events occur at the same time. In Notes mode, this can happen easily. For other events, this can happen
if Multiple Channels are selected.
Use this to take the result from the most recent event to occur, the oldest event still happening, the highest or lowest valued event, the average, sum or
the median of all events currently occurring.
Beat (Quarters) Beat Mode Only

This defines how often a beat will occur when in Beat mode. This is in Quarter notes so a value of 1.0 will give a beat every quarter.
Note Range Note And Poly Aftertouch Modes Only

This defines what range of notes will cause a value to be generated. For example, use this to pick out the kick drum from a GM drum track by setting the
note range between 35-36.
Pitch Scale Note Mode Only

Pitch Scale defines how much the result changes with pitch. A value of 1.0 will cause the result to vary from 0.0 to 1.0 over the entire range.
Velocity Scale Note Mode Only

This defines how much the result changes with velocity. A value of 1.0 will cause the result to vary from 0.0 to 1.0 over the entire range. This is added to
the result from pitch scale for the final result.
Control Number Control Change Mode Only

This specifies the MIDI controller number from which to extract events.
Envelope Controls Note And Beat Modes Only

These define an Envelope to follow for values before, during and after the note or beat. Pre-Attack Time defines how long before the event it will start
ramping up to the pre-attack level. Attack is the Time/Level to ramp to once the event has occurred, followed by the Decay ramp and Sustain, until the
event stops. This stage is for Notes only. Beats have an instantaneous duration, so it goes straight to Release. Release is the ramp down time after the
event finishes. When trying to do a Beat, set Release to some value, or there likely will not be much on the beats.
These values can be used to follow actual sounds in the MIDI sequence, or just to create interesting effects. All time values used in the MIDI Extractor are
in seconds.

Modifiers
MIDI Extractor
Channels Tab
Channels
Channels checkboxes select which of the 16 channels in the MIDI file are actually considered for events. This is a good way to single out a specific instru-
ment from an arrangement.
More About MIDI

A single MIDI interface allows 16 channels. Typically, these will be assigned to different instruments within a device or different devices.
Usually, MIDI data is 7 bits, ranging from 0..127. This is represented as a value between 0..1 to be more consistent with the way data is handled throughout
the rest of Fusion.
There are quite a number of different MIDI messages and events but the ones that are particularly useful with this modifier are detailed below.
MIDI Messages
Note On
This indicates that a note (on a specific channel) is being turned on, has a pitch (0..127, with middle C being 60) and a Velocity (0..127, how fast the key was
or whatever was hit).
Note Off
This indicates that a note (on a specific channel) is being turned off, has a pitch (0..127, with middle C being 60) and a Velocity (0..127, how fast the key was
or whatever was released).
Control Change
This message indicates that some controller has changed. There are 128 controllers (0..127), each of which has data from 0..127. Controllers are used to set
things such as Volume, Pan, amount of Reverb or Chorus, and generic things like foot controllers or breath controllers.
MIDI Events
Channel Aftertouch
This event defines that pressure is being applied to the keys (or whatever) during a note. It is general, overall pressure for this channel so it simply uses a
pressure value (0..127).
Poly Aftertouch
This event defines that pressure is being applied to the keys (or strings, or whatever) during a note. It is specific to each particular note and, therefore,
contains a note number as well as a pressure value (0..127).
General
Pitch Bend
The Pitch Bend controller generally specifies the degree of pitch bending or variation applied to the note. Because pitch bend values are transmitted as a
14 bit value, this control has a range between -1 and 1, and a correspondingly finer degree of resolution.
For some other resources on how MIDI works, have a look at http://www.harmony-central.com/MIDI/Doc/doc.html.
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Modifiers
Multistroke
Description:
The Multistroke is the standard stroke in the Paint Tool. Perfect for those 100-strokes-per-frame retouching paint jobs like removing tracking-markers e.g.
While Multistrokes aren't directly editable, they can be grouped with the PaintGroup modifier, then tracked, moved and rotated by animating the PaintGroup instead. Alternatively, the Edit
Multistrokes and Combine Strokes tool scripts can be used to convert multistrokes into ordinary, editable strokes, and vice versa.
It can be applied by clicking on the Multi Stroke button in the Paint tool's stroke menu.
Controls Tab
applicable. Additionally, several of the controls are considered to be self-explanatory the purpose of a center control, angle or size control should be re-
latively straightforward to determine.
Brush Controls
Brush Shape
Soft Brush
Circular Brush
Image Brush
Single Pixel Brush

Square Brush
Vary Size
Constant
With Pressure
With Velocity
Vary Opacity
Constant
With Pressure
With Velocity
Softness

Modifiers
Multistroke
Image Source
Tool
Clip
Brush
Apply Controls
Apply Mode
Color
Clone
Emboss
Erase
Erase reveals the underlying image through all other strokes, effectively erasing portions of the strokes beneath it with out actually destroying the strokes.
Merge
Smear
Stamp
target image.
Wire
the stroke.
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Modifiers
Multistroke
Stroke Controls
Size
This control adjusts the Size of the brush when the brush type is set to either soft brush or circle. The diameter of the brush is drawn in the display view as
a small circle surrounding the mouse pointer. The size can also be adjusted interactively in the display view by holding the Ctrl key while click-dragging the
mouse pointer.
Spacing
or polyline stroke). Increasing the value of this slider increases the density of the stroke, whereas decreasing the value is likely to cause the stroke to assu-
me the appearance of a dotted line.
Stroke Animation
strokes.
All Frames
Limited Duration
Write On
stroke will be written on the image exactly as it was drawn. To adjust the timing of the write on effect, switch to the spline editor and use the timestretcher
mode to adjust the overall length of the animation spline. To smooth or manually adjust the motion, try reducing the points in the animation spline.
Write Off
Write On Then Off

Trail
Selecting the Trail mode will cause both the start and end points of the stroke to be animated simultaneously, offset from each other by the amount
specified in the duration control. This has the effect of creating a segment of the stroke that follows the stroke as if it were a path. As with the write on and
off effects, this will start at the frame that is current when the animation mode is selected. The timing of the animation can be adjusted manually using the
spline or timeline editors.
Duration
Duration sets the duration of each stroke in frames. This control is only present for Multistrokes or when the stroke animation mode is set to Limited Dura-
tion. It is most commonly employed for frame-by-frame rotoscoping through a scene.
Each Vector stroke applied to a scene will have a duration in the timeline that can be trimmed independently from one stroke to the next. The duration can be set to 0.5,
which will allow each stroke to last for a single field only when the flow is processing in fields mode.

impression that the stroke is being drawn on the screen. This control can be animated to good effect. It works most effectively when automatically anima-
ted through the use of the Write On, Write Off modes of the stroke animation menu.
Make Editable
This button only appears for Vector strokes.. Clicking on 'Make Editable' turns the current stroke into a polyline spline so that the shape can be adjusted or
animated.
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Modifiers
Natural Cubic Spline

Description:
The Natural Cubic Spline is one of the animation modifiers in Fusion and normally is applied to numerical values rather than point values.
It can be applied by right clicking on a numerical control and selecting Modify with -> Natural Cubic Spline.
Note that, unlike other spline types, cubic splines have no control handles, and attempt to automatically provide a smooth curve through the keypoints.
Usage

Modifiers
Offset
Description:
Offsets are useful for creating constant or animated variances between values, relating to various controls, paths and points. There are three types of offsets available in Fusion:
Offset Distance, Offset Angle and Offset Position.
Offset Angle
The Offset Angle Modifier outputs a value between 0 and 360 that is based on the angle between two positional controls. The position and offset para-
meters may be static, connected to other positional parameters or connected to paths of their own. All of the offsets use the same set of controls, which
behave differently depending on the offset type used. These controls are described below.
Offset Distance
The Offset Distance Modifier outputs a value that is based on the distance between two positional controls. This modifier is the first one discussed that is
capable of outputting a value based on a mathematical expression applied to a position.
Offset Position
The Offset Position Modifier outputs a position (X and Y coordinate) that is based on the relationship between positional controls. This modifier is the
equivalent of a calculation control except that it outputs X and Y coordinates instead of a value.
It can be applied by right-clicking on a control and selecting Modify with -> Offset.
Offset Tab
Position X And Y
The first position value is used by the Position to generate the calculation.
Offset X And Y
The first position value is used by the Offset to generate the calculation.
Flip Position Horizontal And Vertical

When these controls are selected, the Position will be mirrored along the vertical or horizontal axis of the image.
Flip Offset Horizontal And Vertical

When these controls are selected, the Offset position will be mirrored along the vertical or horizontal axis of the image.
Mode
Select an option from the Mode menu to choose the mathematical operation performed by the offset control.
Available options are:
Offset
Difference (Position - Offset)
Difference (Offset - Position)
Average
Use Position Only
Use Offset Only
Maximum
Minimum
Invert Position
Invert Offset
Invert Sugar
Random Offset
Image Aspect
Adjust the modifier's output to compensate for the Image Aspect (not pixel aspect) of the project. A square image of 500 x 500 would use an Image
Aspect value of 1 and a rectangular image of 500 x 1000 would use an aspect value of 2. The default value is always based on the current frame format
selected in the preferences. To calculate image aspect, divide the width by the height. This control can also be used to create the illusion of aspect.

Modifiers
Offset
Time Tab
Position Time Scale
This returns the value of the Position at the Time Scale specified (for example, 0.5 is the value at half the current frame time).
Position Time Offset

This returns the value of Position at the Time Offset specified (for example, 10 is 10 frames back).
Offset Time Scale

This returns the value of the Offset at the Time Scale specified.
Offset Time Offset

This returns the value of Offset at the Time Offset specified.
Example
Continue the Text banking example at the beginning of this chapter to illustrate one potential use of offsets.
Select and view the Merge tool in this flow. Right-click on the Merge Size control and select Modify With>Offset Distance from the context menu. This will
add two new crosshairs and Offset controls in the Modifier tab.
The size of the text will now be determined by the distance or offset between the two new cross hairs. These points are animatable and can be connected
to other controls.
Connect the position value of the offset to the existing path by right-clicking on the Position control and selecting Connect To>Path on Merge 1 Center
Value. Manually place the Offset crosshair at the bottom of the screen between the two path points.
Now, the text should shrink near the ends of the path (when the distance between the offset and the path is at its minimum) and grow at its ends (where
the distance between the offset and the path is at its maximum).
1988-2014 eyeon software - www.eyeonline.com Time Tab 432

Modifiers
Paint Group
Description:
The Paint Group only works on Paint strokes and objects.
It groups all currently selected paint strokes together, making it easier to handle them all together.
Multistroke modifiers can be grouped as well, which includes all the multistrokes contained within that modifier. By animating the Paint Group, it is thus possible to move, track and rotate a
collection of multistrokes.
It can be applied by clicking on the paint group button in the Paint tool's stroke menu.
Controls
Center X Y
The Center of the Group. Modify this control to move the group around.
Angle
The entire group can be rotated using this control.
Size
Scales the entire group
Show subgroup controls

Displays the controls of the individual strokes in the group amd allows to modify them.
Think of this like opening and closing a group of tools
Reset Center
Puts the center back to the position where it was when the group was created.
Ungroup
Disassembles the group back into individual strokes and deletes the Group modifier.
For temporary opening of the group use the Show subgroup controls switch instead.

Modifiers
Path
Description:
The Path uses two splines to control the animation of Points. An onscreen motion path (spacial) and a time-spline visible in the Spline Editor (temporal).
To animate a coordinate control using a Path, right-click on the control and select Path from the context menu.
Controls Tab
For an in-depth explanation see the chapter working with Motion Paths of this documentation.
Center
The actual center of the path. This can be modified and animated as well to move the entire path around.
Size
The Size of the path. Again this allows for later modification of the animation.
X Y Z Rotation
The Path can be rotated in all three dimensions to allow for sophisticated controls.
Displacement
Every motion path has an associated Displacement Spline in the spline editor.
The displacement spline represents the position of the animated control along its path, represented as a value between 0.0 and 1.0.
Displacement splines are used to control the speed of a control's movement along its path.
To slow down, speed up, stop or even reverse the motion of the control along the path, adjust the values of the points for the path's displacement
in the spline editor.
A displacement value of 0.0 in the spline editor indicates that the control is at the very beginning of a path.
A value of 1.0 indicates that the control is positioned at the end of the path.
Each locked point on the motion path will have an associated point on the displacement spline.
Unlocked points will not have a corresponding point on the displacement spline.
Please refer to the For an in-depth explanation see the chapter working with Motion Paths of this documentation as well.
Heading Offset
If other controls like e.g. a mask's Angle is connected to the path's heading, this control allows for adding or aubtracting from the calculated angle.
Right Clik here for shape animation

It is possible to animate the shape of the path as well, or to connect it to other path-controls like Polyline Masks or Paint Strokes.
Switching Default Paths

Change the Default Path type used when animating a coordinate control to Path (if this is the preferred type of animation). Open the Global preferences and look under the
default's tab for the drop-down list in the default animate section labelled Point With. Change this from the current value to Path. The next time Animate is selected from a
coordinate control's context menu, a Path will be used.

Modifiers
Perturb
Description:
The Perturb modifier generates smoothly varying random values for several input types, based on Perlin noise. It can be used to add jitter, shake or wobble to any animatable control, even if
the control is already animated. Its results are similar to those of the Shake modifier, though it uses a different set of controls that may be more suitable to the artists needs. Unlike other ran-
dom modifiers the Perturb modifier can also be applied to polylines, shapes, grid meshes and even color gradients.
For example, to add camera shake to an existing path, right-click on the crosshair and choose Insert -> Perturb, then adjust the Strength down to suit. Alternatively, right-click on the path's
Shape Animation control, and apply the wobble to the path's polyline itself (this works best if the polyline has many points, e.g. if it has been tracked, or hand-drawn with the Draw Append
pencil tool). A third option is to insert the modifier onto the Displacement control, which will cause the motion along the path to jitter back and forth without actually leaving the line of the
path.
Note that Perturb can only add jitter it cannot smooth out existing animation curves.
Controls Tab
Value
The actual contents of this control will depend on what type of control the modifier was applied to. If the Perturb modifier was added to a basic slider
control, the Value will be a slider. If it was added to a gradient control, then a gradient control will be displayed here. Use the control to set the default, or
center value for the Perturb modifier to work on.
Jaggedness
(Polylines, Meshes only) This allows you to increase the amount of variation along the length of the polyline or mesh, rather than over time. Increasing this
will give a squigglier polyline or more tangled mesh, independently of its movement.
Phase
(Polylines, Meshes only) Animating this can be used to move the ripple of a polyline or mesh along itself, from end to end. The effect can be most clearly
seen when Speed is set to 0.0.

The Random Seed is used to 'seed' the amount of jitter applied by the modifier. Two Perturb modifiers with identical settings but different random seeds
will produce two completely different results. Click on the Randomize button to assign a random seed value.
Strength
Use this control to adjust the strength of the Perturb modifier's output, or its maximum variation from the primary value specified above.
Wobble
Use the Wobble control to determine how smooth the resulting values are. Less wobble implies a smoother transition between values, while more wobble
produces less predictable results.
Speed
Increasing the Speed slider value will speed up the rate at which the value changes. This can increase the apparent wobbliness in a more predictable fa-
shion than the Wobble control, and make the jitter more frantic or languorous in nature.

Modifiers
Polyline Stroke
Description:
Fusion offers a Polyline Stroke mode. This provides the ability to create and manipulate a stroke in the same way that a path or mask might be created. To add a polyline stroke to the flow,
select the Polyline Button from the Paint tool's stroke toolbar and click in the view to add the first point. Continue clicking to add additional points to the polyline.
Notice that the usual polyline toolbar buttons will appear in the display toolbar. Polyline strokes are created in click append mode by default, but they can also be created in draw append
mode.
Controls Tab
Brush Controls
Brush Shape
Soft Brush
Circular Brush
Image Brush
Single Pixel Brush

Square Brush
Vary Size
Constant
With Pressure
With Velocity
Vary Opacity
Constant
With Pressure
With Velocity
Softness
Image Source
Tool

Modifiers
Polyline Stroke
Clip
Brush
Apply Controls
Apply Mode
Color
Clone
Emboss
Erase
Merge
Smear
Stamp
target image.
Wire
the stroke.
Source Tool
Stroke Controls
Size
mouse pointer.
Spacing
1988-2014 eyeon software - www.eyeonline.com Clip 437

Modifiers
Polyline Stroke
Stroke Animation
strokes.
All Frames
Limited Duration
Write On
Write Off
Write On Then Off

Trail
Duration
Note

Right Click here for shape animation

To animate the Polyline shape like e.g. Polyline Masks, right click on this control and choose animate.
1988-2014 eyeon software - www.eyeonline.com Stroke Animation 438

Modifiers
Probe
Description:
The Probe Modifier is one of the most versatile modifiers in Fusion.
It allows you to control any numeric parameter by the pixel color or luminosity at a certain position or rectangular region of an image.
Think of driving values by the presence or absence of an image or by color values of an image.
Using colors to create X Y positions on other controls or measuring graded LUT's to compare values.
It can be applied by right-clicking on a control and selecting Modify with -> Probe.
Probe Tab
Image To Probe
Drop the tool of the image you want to probe into this field.
Channel
Select the Channel you want to probe. The usual options are
Red
Green
Blue
Alpha
Luma
Once a Probe modifier is present somewhere in your comp you can connect other tool's values to it's outputs as well. The Probe allows to connect to it's
Result
Red
Green
Blue
Alpha
values individually
Position X Y
The position in the image where the probe samples the values from.
Probe Rectangle
By default the Probe only samples the value of a single pixel at it's position.
By using the Probe Rectangle mode you can sample from a larger area of pixels based on the Evaluation method.
Width Height Controls

These determine the size of the area to be probed.
Evaluation
Sets how the pixels inside the rectangle are computed to generate the output value.
Options are:
Average (all pixel values inside the rectangle are averaged)
Minimum (The smallest value of all pixels inside the rectangle is used)
Maximum (The highest value of all pixels inside the rectangle is used)

Modifiers
Probe
Value Tab
Scale Input Black / White
By default the Probe generates the Black Value when the probed area results in a value of 0 (i.e. Black)
and it generates it's White Value when the probed area results in a value of 1 (i.e. White).
By using this range control you can modify the sensitivity of the Probe.
Black Value
The value that is generated by the Probe if the probed area delivers the result set in Scale Input Black.
White Value
The value that is generated by the Probe if the probed area delivers the result set in Scale Input White.
Out Of Image Value

The value that is generated by the Probe if the probed area is outside the frame boundaries of the probed image.
If probing a rectangle, this value will not be generated before the entire rectangle is outside the frame boundaries of the image to be probed.
1988-2014 eyeon software - www.eyeonline.com Value Tab 440

Modifiers
Publish
Description:
Only controls that are animated can be available from the Connect To menu option. A non-animated control (static) must be published before it can be connected. Animated controls are
automatically published, whereas static controls have to be manually published.
To publish a control, right-click on the control and select Publish from the context menu.
It can be applied by right-clicking on a control and selecting Publish.
Publish
Published Value
This is obviously dependent on which value is published from which tool.

Modifiers
Shake
Description:
The Shake Modifier is used to randomize a position or value control to create semi-random numeric inputs. The resulting shake can be entirely random. The motion can also be smoothed for
a more gentle, organic feel.
To add the shake modifier to a control, select Modify With>Shake from the control's context menu. The shake modifier uses the following controls to achieve its effect.
It can be applied by right-clicking on a control and selecting Modify with -> Shake.
Shake Tab
Random Seed
The Random Seed control contains the value used to seed the random number generator. Given the same seed, a random number generator will always
produce the same results. Change the seed if the results from the randomizer are not satisfying.
Smoothness
This control is used to smooth the overall randomness of the shake. The higher the value is set, the smoother the motion will appear. A value of zero will
generate completely random results, with no smoothing applied.
Lock X And Y
This checkbox is used to Unlock the X and Y axis, revealing independent slider controls for each axis.
Min And Max

This control is used to determine the overall strength of the shake. The low values represent the lowest value that can be generated by the randomizer and
the high values represent the highest values. To create a shake that moves a center crosshair anywhere within the image, set the low to 0.0 and the high to
1.0. To restrict the motion to a smaller shake in the bottom right corner of the image, set the Min to 0.70 and the Max to 0.90.
Example
Create a new comp and add a Text tool.
Type something in the Text tool and view it in the large display.
Add a shake modifier by selecting Modify With>Shake Position from the context menu for the Text Center control.
Switch to the Modifier tab and set the smoothing to 5.0.

Set the Low to 0.1 and the High to 0.9.
Go to frame 0 and add a Bezier spline to both the Low and the High controls.
Advance to frame 90 and set the Low to 0.45 and the High to 0.55.
Render out a preview and view the results.
The text should start out by flying all over the screen and then tighten in toward the center of the screen.

Modifiers
Stroke
Description:
When the paint tool is first added to the flow, the brush type is set to a medium sized soft, circular brush with a white color apply mode.
Release the mouse button to end the creation of the stroke. To draw another stroke, simply click again and continue. A new stroke will be added to the image with the same settings as the last
applied stroke. When the painting is complete, choose the Select button in the paint toolbar to avoid accidentally adding new strokes.
While in brush or polyline modes, the controls displayed in the tool tab affect the next stroke created, not the strokes that are already created. To adjust the settings of an existing stroke,
switch to Select mode using the paint toolbar and select the stroke.
To add a stroke to the flow, select the Polyline Button from the Paint tool's stroke toolbar, place the mouse or pen over the imaga, click-hold the left mouse button and start drawing.
Controls Tab
Brush Controls
Brush Shape
Soft Brush
Circular Brush
Image Brush
Single Pixel Brush

Square Brush
Vary Size
Constant
With Pressure
With Velocity
Vary Opacity
Constant
With Pressure
With Velocity
Softness

Modifiers
Stroke
Image Source
Tool
Clip
Brush
Apply Controls
Apply Mode
Color
Clone
Emboss
Erase
Merge
Smear
Stamp
target image.
Wire
the stroke.
Source Tool
Stroke Controls
Size
mouse pointer.
Spacing
1988-2014 eyeon software - www.eyeonline.com Image Source 444

Modifiers
Stroke
Stroke Animation
strokes.
All Frames
Limited Duration
Write On
Write Off
Write On Then Off

Trail
Duration
Note

Right Click here for shape animation

To animate the shape like e.g. Polyline Masks, right click on this control and choose animate.
1988-2014 eyeon software - www.eyeonline.com Stroke Animation 445

Modifiers
Text Scramble
Description:
The Text Scramble only works on Text+ tools.
It scrambles the Text around, randomly replacing the characters with others from a user definable set.
It can be applied by right clicking into the Styled text fiel of a Text+ tool and selecting TextScramble.
Controls
Randomness
Defines how many characters are exchanged randomly.
A value of 0 will change no characters at all.
A value of 1 will change all characters in the text.
Animating this screw to go from 0 to 1 will gradually exchange all characters.
Input Text
This reflects the original Text in the Text+ Styled Text.
Text can be entered either here on in the Text+.
Animate on Time
When set the characters will get scrambled randomly on every new frame.
This switch has no effect when Randomness is set to 0.
Animate on Randomness
When set the characters will get scrambled randomly on every new frame, when the Randomness screw is animated.
This switch has no effect when Randomness is set to 0.
Don't change spaces

When set, the length of the single words will stay the same, though their characters get scrambled around.
Substitute Chars
Defines which characters are used to scramble the text.

Modifiers
Text Timer
Description:
The Text Timer only works on Text+ tools.
It makes the Text+ tool in either a Countdown, a Timer or a Clock.
This is quite useful for on screen realtime displays or burn in the creation time of a frame into the picture.
It can be applied by right clicking into the Styled text fiel of a Text+ tool and selecting TextScramble.
Controls
Mode
Sets the mode the timer is working in.
In Clock mode the current system time will be displayed.
Hrs, Mins, Secs (Switches)

Defines which parts of the clock should be shown on screen.
Hrs, Mins, Secs (Sliders)

Set the start time for the countdown and timer mode
Start
Starts the Counter or Timer.
Toggles to Stop once the timer is running.
Reset
Resets the Counter and Timer to the values set by the Sliders.

Modifiers
TimeCode
Description:
The TimeCode only works on Text+ tools.
It sets the Styled text to become a counter based on the current frame.
This is quite useful to automate burn-ins for daily renderings.
It can be applied by right clicking into the Styled text fiel of a Text+ tool and selecting TimeCode.
Controls
Hrs, Mins, Secs, Frms, Flds
Activate or de-activate these options to customize the time code display
to show hours, minutes, seconds, frames and fields respectively.
Activating Frames only will give you a plain frame counter
Start Offset
Introduce a positive or negative offset to Fusion's current time to match up with existing time codes.
Frames per second

This should match with your Composition's FPS setting to provide accurate time measurement.
Drop Frame
Activate this checkbox to match the time code with footage that has drop frames, like e.g. certain NTSC formats.

Modifiers
Track
Description:
Another technique for adding a tracker directly to a control is to apply the tracker as a modifier.
Right-click on the center of the mask and select Ellipse x Center>Modify With>Tracker Position>Steady Position or Unsteady Position. This would add a modifier with a set of controls almost
identical to those found in the tracker tool itself.
Tracker Tab
For an in-depth explanation of this tool, please refer to the Tracker documentation in this manual.
The differences between a Tracker Modifier and a Tracker Tool are as follows.
The tracker modifier can only track a single pattern.

A source image must be set for the tracker modifier.
The tracker modifier can only output a single value and cannot be used for complex stabilization procedures.
The default source image for the modifier is the tool immediately upstream of the tool that contains the modifier (i.e. when adding a tracker modifier to
a glow tool with a loader as its input, the tracker source input will default to the output of the loader). Set a different source image for the tracker modifier
by typing in the name of the tool. Alternately, drag and drop the source tool from the flow into the text box control.
Example
Imagine that you needed to track an actor's eyes so that an unearthly, alien glow could be applied to the eyes.
Add a glow tool and then create an ellipse mask in the shape of the eye.
Right Click on the center of that mask and select modify with -> Track.
Track the actors eye.

Modifiers
Vector
Description:
The Vector Modifier is used to offset positional controls, such as crosshairs, by distance and angle. These can be static or animated values.
It can be applied by right-clicking on a control and selecting Modify with -> Vector.
Controls Tab
Origin
This control is used to represent the position from which the vector's distance and angle values originate.
Distance Slider Control

This control is used to determine the distance of the vector from the origin.
Angle Thumbwheel Control

This control is used to determine the angle of the vector relative to the origin.
Image Aspect Slider Control

This control is used primarily to compensate for image aspect differences. A square image of 500 x 500 would use an Image Aspect value of 1, while a
rectangular image of 500 x 1000 would use an aspect value of 2. The default for this value is taken from the current frame format preferences using width/
height. It may be required to modify this control to match the current image.
Example
To illustrate, create a simple flow consisting of a black background, a Text tool and a Merge.
Right-click on the center of the merge and select Modify With>Vector. This will add a vector control header under the small view. Expand it by clicking on
the gold triangle. Drag the Distance control to distance the text from the vector origin.
Drag the Angle thumbwheel to rotate the text around the vector origin.
Add a path to the vector origin by right-clicking on the Origin control and selecting the Path option from the context menu. Verify that the current frame is
set to frame 0 (zero) and drag the Vector Origin crosshair to the bottom left corner of the screen.
Right-click on the Vector Angle thumbwheel and select Bezier Spline to animate this control.
Set the Angle Screw to a value of 10.
Advance to frame 100 and click at the top left corner of the screen to move the vector origin crosshair.
Set the Vector Angle thumbwheel to a value of 1000. This will cause the text to orbit around the path just created.

Modifiers
XY Path
Description:
The XY Path type uses a separate spline for the position along the X axis, as it does for the position along the Y axis.
To animate a coordinate control using an XY path, right-click on the control and select Modify With>XY Path from the context menu.
At first glance, XY paths work like displacement paths. To describe the path, change frames and position the control where it should be on that frame, then change frames again and move the
control to its new position. Fusion automatically interpolates between the points. The difference is that no keyframes are created on the onscreen path.
Look in the spline editor to find the X and Y channel splines. Changes to the controls position will be keyframed on these splines. The advantage to the XY path is that it becomes very easy to
work with motion along an individual axis.
Controls Tab
X Y Z values
These reflect the position of the animated control.
Center
The actual center of the path. This can be modified and animated as well to move the entire path around.
Size
The Size of the path. Again this allows for later modification of the animation.
Angle
The Angle of the path. Again this allows for later modification of the animation.
Heading Offset
If other controls like e.g. a mask's Angle is connected to the path's heading, this control allows for adding or aubtracting from the calculated angle.
Plot Path in View

Toggles if or if not the actual path is displayed in the views.
Switching Default Paths

Change the Default Path type used when animating a coordinate control to XY path (if this is the preferred type of animation). Open the Global preferences and look under
the default's tab for the drop-down list in the default animate section labelled Point With. Change this from the current value to XY Path. The next time Animate is selected
from a coordinate control's context menu, an XY path will be used instead of a displacement path.

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Fusion Tool Reference

In addition to the Fusion User Manual

Please consider the environment before printing this document.

1988-2011 eyeon software - www.eyeonline.com Version 1.5 last updated 17.10.14 1

1988-2011 eyeon software - www.eyeonline.com 2

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FBX Exporter 3D FBX Mesh 3D Fog 3D Image Plane 3D Locator 3D

Merge 3D Override 3D Point Cloud 3D Projector 3D Renderer 3D

Replace Material 3D Replicate 3D Shape 3D SoftClip Text 3D

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1988-2014 eyeon software - www.eyeonline.com [3Bn] 5

Near / Far Clip

Adaptively Adjust Near/Far Clip

Viewing Volume Size

Plane of Focus (for depth of field)

1988-2014 eyeon software - www.eyeonline.com [3Cm] 7

The Cameras are shifted Parallel to each other.

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Resolution Gate Fit

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*LightWave Scene - .lws

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Enable Image Plane

See the Projector 3D tool for additional information.

Enable Camera Projection

Projection Fit Method

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Tips for Camera 3D

Rendering with overscan from Fusions 3D space

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Cull Front Face/Back Face

Ignore Transparent Pixels in Aux Channels

1988-2014 eyeon software - www.eyeonline.com [3Cb] 13

OpenGL Blend Mode

Software Blend Mode

1988-2014 eyeon software - www.eyeonline.com Cube 3D 14

These default values are:

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Translation XYZ Jitter

Rotation XYZ Jitter

Pivot XYZ Jitter

Scale XYZ Jitter

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*FBX ascii (*.fbx)

Choosing Default for the FBX formats uses FBX200611.

Geometry / Lights / Cameras

Reduce Constant Keys

File Per Frame (no animation)

Set Sequence Start

Sequence Start Frame

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*FBX ascii (*.fbx)

Cull Front Face/Back Face

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OpenGL Blend Mode

Software Blend Mode

FBX ascii (.fbx)

FBX ascii (.fbx)